HOLLAND'S  INFLUENCE 

ON 

ENGLISH  LANGUAGE 
AND  LITERATURE 


BY 


T.  de  VRIES,  J.  D. 


CHICAGO 

C.   GRENTZEBACH 
1916 


COPYRIGHT,   1916 

BY 
C.  GRKNTZEBACH 


HAMMOND  PRESS 
W.   B.  CONKEY  COMPA 
CHICAGO 


PREFACE     , 

IN  the  following  pages  an  endeavor  is  made  to 
contribute  to  the  knowledge  of  English  language 
and  literature  by  telling  the  part  which  Holland  played 
in  their  development  during  several  centuries.  This 
contribution  to  English  language  and  literature  I  make 
with  especial  delight,  since  the  English  language  is 
that  of  the  American  people,  and  consequently  the 
literature,  written  in  that  language,  is  of  the  greatest 
educational  importance  to  the  United  States.  In  doing 
this,  I  have  tried  to  reconcile  my  allegiance  and  faith- 
fulness to  the  "stars  and  stripes"  with  my  imperishable 
love  for  the  country  of  my  ancestors.  My  endeavor 
has  been  to  portray  so  much  of  Dutch  national  life 
and  activity  as  has  been  useful  and  is  still  useful  for 
our  present  American  life.  The  life  of  every  American 
citizen  is  rooted  in  the  life  of  one  or  the  other  Euro- 
pean nation  and  there  is  none  living  that  does  not  feel 
some  hidden  love  in  the  bottom  of  his  heart  for  that 
country  from  which  either  he  himself  or  his  ancestors 
came.  He  that  would  deny  it  would  give  a  poor  com- 
pliment to  his  own  character,  education  and  feelings. 
We  are  always  standing  between  the  future  and  the 
past;  and  the  love  for  our  ancestors,  for  the  country 
of  their  activities,  for  the  places  where  they  are 
resting  after  their  labors,  is  as  natural  as  our  love  for 
our  children  and  grandchildren.  So  the  problem  of 
the  twofold  sympathy  must  present  itself  more  or  less 
to  every  American,  and  the  way  I  have  tried  to  solve 
it,  as  I  hope  to  the  honor  of  both  my  old  country  and 


6  .  PREFACE 

our  new  world,  may  possibly  give  a  hint  to  those  who 
apparently  were  not  able  to  find  the  right  equilibrium 
in  their  love  as  divided  between  the  country  of  their 
ancestors  and  that  of  their  offspring  in  the  future. 
Those  who  are  too  much  attached  to  the  old  country 
will  never  become  really  faithful  to  the  new,  and  will 
themselves  remain  strangers  in  this  country.  Those 
that  boast  of  their  indifference  about  the  land  of  their 
ancestors  are  depriving  their  own  character  of  one  of 
the  noblest  and  most  charming  qualities:  love  and 
honor  for  their  ancestors.  The  solution  is  in  finding, 
honoring  and  remembering  the  best  of  what  the  old 
country  has  produced  in  civilization,  in  learning,  in  art 
and  literature,  in  heroism  and  martyrdom,  and  in 
offering  that  as  a  contribution  to  the  national  life  of 
the  new  world,  giving  honor  to  the  past  and  blessing 
to  the  future.  Not  in  preferring  the  old  world  to  the 
new,  but  in  making  the  best  results  of  European  life 
useful  for  the  American  nation,  in  combining  what  is 
beautiful  and  useful  in  both  of  them,  lies  the  solution 
that  alone  can  satisfy  our  noblest  feelings  in  this  ten- 
der question.  That  is  what,  as  far  as  Holland's  in- 
fluence on  English  and  American  language  and  litera- 
ture is  concerned,  I  have  tried  to  do. 

It  is  only  an  endeavor,  and  as  such  I  hope  that  it 
may  find  appreciation. 

Finally,  I  may  not  omit  here  the  expression  of  my 
cordial  thanks  to  Dr.  W.  Lichtenstein,  librarian  of 
Northwestern  University,  for  the  kindness  and  help- 
fulness with  which  he  and  his  staff  have  assisted  me 
in  getting  the  books  which  I  needed,  and  for  the 
special  freedom  which  he  has  given  me  in  the  use  of 
the  library. 

T.  DE  VRIES. 

Evanston,  111.,  May,  1916. 


CONTENTS , 

PAGE 

PREFACE    5 

INTRODUCTION    13 

PART  I — HOLLAND'S  INFLUENCE  ON  THE  DEVELOP- 
MENT OF  COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY. 

CHAPTER 

I     The      English      language     and      comparative 
philology    23 

II     The  great  results  of  comparative  philology..     25 

III  Holland's   share  in  the  starting  of   compara- 
tive philology   27 

IV  The  Dutch  school  of  Lambert  ten  Kate  and 
Balthazar   Huydecoper    42 

V  Holland's  share  in  the  revival  of  mediaeval 
literature  during  the  nineteenth  century,  as  a 
natural  consequence  of  the  study  of  com- 
parative philology  45 

VI  Results  of  the  study  of  comparative  philology 
and  of  mediaeval  literature,  for  the  study  of 
English  language  and  literature 51 

PART  II — HOLLAND'S  INFLUENCE  ON  THE  ENGLISH 
LANGUAGE. 

VII     The  close  relationship  between  the  Dutch  and 

the  English  languages 55 

VIII  Why  the  influence  of  England  on  Dutch 
language  and  literature  is  only  of  recent 
date,  while  that  of  Holland  on  English  lan- 
guage and  literature  began  much  earlier  and 
continued  during  several  centuries 61 

IX  The  influence  exerted  on  the  English  lan- 
guage is  entirely  different  from  that  on  Eng- 
lish literature  69 

1 


8 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

X     How    it    happened    that    Holland    exerted    an 
influence   on  the   English  language 73 

XI     What     influence     Holland     exerted     on     the 

English   language    97 

PART  III — THE  INFLUENCE  OF  HOLLAND  ON 
ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

XII     On  Caedmon  143 

XIII  On    the    stories    of    King    Arthur    and    the 
French   romances   in  England 145 

XIV  On  William  Caxton  and  the  first  book  print- 
ing in   England 149 

XV  On  Prognostications  or  prophetic  almanacs..    153 

XVI  Thomas  a  Kempis 155 

XVII  "Elckerlic"    and   "Everyman" 160 

XVIII  Desiderius   Erasmus  164 

XIX     The    first    English    book    on    America    is    a 

translation   from  the   Dutch 173 

XX     Dutch  legends   in   England 176 

XXI    Jestbooks    and    anecdotes.      Fool    literature. 

Howleglass.     Ulenspiegel   178 

XXII     Hadrianus    Junius    182 

XXIII  The    first   complete    English   bible  printed   at 
Antwerp    (1527-1535)    as   a   missionary   work 
of  the  Dutch.     Miles  Coverdale  in  the  serv- 
ice of   Jacob  van  Meteren 187 

XXIV  The    emblem-books.      Van   der   Noot.     Eras- 
mus.    Hadrianus  Junius.    Whitney.     Plantijn. 
Jacob  Cats 191 

XXV  George  Gascoigne.  His  abode  in  the  Neth- 
erlands and  his  works.  His  Glasse  of  Gov- 
ernment and  the  Latin  school  dramas  in 
Holland.  Macropedius  and  Gnapheus 198 

XXVI     Thomas  Churchyard    213 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 


XXVII  Sir  John  Van  der  Noot  and  Edmund  Spenser, 
(a)  Van  der  Noot's  theatre,  (b)  Its  author. 

(c)  Spenser's    connection    with   the    Theatre. 

(d)  Spenser  and  Van  der  Noot 224 

XXVIII     The   "Bee   Hive   of   the  Romish   Church"   by 

Marnix  of  St.  Aldegonde 249 

XXIX  Descriptions  of  voyages.  Lucas  Jansz.  Wag- 
henser.  Bernhard  Langhenes.  Jan  Huyghen 
van  Linschoten.  Willem  Cornells  Schouten. 
Gerrit  de  Veer 253 

XXX  Religious  Literature.  Brownists,  Separatists 
or  Independents.  Baptists.  Congregation- 
alists.  Quakers.  Methodists.  Presbyterians.  261 

XXXI  Shakespeare's  Romeo  and  Juliet.  Jacobus 
Struyck.  The  morality-plays  in  the  Nether- 
lands    275 

XXXII     Philip    Sidney   278 

XXXIII  Tracts    relating    to     execution    of    John    of 
Oldenbarnevelt  in   1619.     The  tragedy  of  Sir 
John  of  Oldenbarnevelt.     A  play  called  The 
Jeweller    of    Amsterdam 282 

XXXIV  John  Milton.    His  life  und  his  Paradise  Lost. 
Milton    and    Grotius.      Milton    and    Vondel. 
Milton    and   Junius.      Milton    and    Salmasius. 
Milton  and  Alexander  Morus.     Bibliography. 
Hugo  Grotius  and  John  Selden.     Selden  and 
Graswinckel     288 

XXXV  The  time  of  the  Anglo-Dutch  wars.  John 
Dryden.  Andrew  Marvell  and  Edmund 
Waller 303 

XXXVI  Holland's  influence  during  the  time  of  Will- 
iam III,  King  of  England,  and  Stadtholder 
of  Holland.  Daniel  Defoe.  Matthew  Prior. 
Gilbert  Burnet  and  John  Locke 321 


10 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
XXXVII 


PAGE 


Holland's  decline  in  the  eighteenth  century. 
Fielding.  Smollett.  Goldsmith.  Southey  and 
Henry  Taylor  under  the  influence  of  Bil- 
derdyk  347 

XXXVIII  Holland's  glory  of  the  past  remains  inspiring. 
Motley.  Macaulay.  Walter  Scott.  Wash- 
ington Irving  and  Paulding.  Longfellow. 
Charles  Reade  and  Robert  Louis  Stevenson. 
Caroline  Atwater  Mason.  Inspiration  from 
Dutch  art.  Walter  Cranston  Larnet's  novel : 
"Rembrandt,  a  romance  of  Holland."  Eng- 
lish translations  of  Dutch  novels.  French 
and  German  novels  inspired  by  Dutch  history 
and  translated  into  English.  George  Ebers. 

Alexander    Dumas    374 

1    INDEX  OF  NAMES 393 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


Portrait  of  Franciscus  Junius  by  Anton  van  Dyck 

Frontispiece 

Portrait  of  Desiderius   Erasmus  by  Albrecht   Durer 168 

Portrait  of  Hadrianus    Junius    182 

Portrait  of  Jacob  Cats  by  P.  Dubordieu 192 

Portrait  of  Jonkheer  Jan  van  der   Noot 236 

Title  page  of  the  "Bee-hive"  with  portrait  of  Marnix  of 

St.    Aldegonde    250 

Portrait  of  Jan   Huyghen  van   Linschoten 254 

Portrait  of  Jacobus    Arminius    264 

Portrait  of  Dirk  Volkertz  Coornhert  by  H.  Golzius...  270 

Portrait  of  Joost  van  den  Vondel  by  Joachim  Sandrard.  292 

Portrait  of  Hugo  Grotius  by  M.   Mierevelt 296 

Portrait  of  Willem    Bilderdyk   by    Hodges 360 


11 


INTRODUCTION 

AT  first  sight  the  subject  treated  in  this  little  book 
must  look  strange  to  most  American  readers, 
who  are  educated  in  the  innocent  belief  that  dikes  and 
windmills,  some  pictures  of  Rembrandt  and  some 
poor  fisher  people  of  Marken  and  Volendam  are  all 
that  is  worth  knowing  about  Holland.  And  if,  during 
their  college  years,  they  follow  the  advice  of  some 
professor  and  read  some  book  of  Motley,  then,  of 
course,  they  feel  themselves  thoroughly  well-posted 
on  Holland ;  the  only  thing  to  be  done  then  is  to  make 
a  trip  to  Europe,  taking  four  days  for  Holland,  one  to 
see  the  Hague,  one  for  Amsterdam,  one  for  the  isle  of 
Marken,  and  one  for  Haarlem  and  Leyden.  The  pur- 
chase of  a  pair  of  wooden  shoes  and  some  postal  cards 
sets  the  crown  on  their  investigations,  and  after  their 
return  to  America  these  "experts  on  Holland"  feel  in- 
clined to  give  "a  lecture  with  lantern  slides,"  or  to 
write  a  "nice  book"  on  "picturesque  Holland."  Such 
has  been  for  the  last  half  century  the  method  of 
English  landlords  and  of  London  parvenus;  why 
should  not  Americans  follow  in  their  footsteps,  since 
Washington  Irving  taught  them  never  to  think  of 
Holland  and  of  the  Dutch  people  but  with  a  smile? 

Why  not  ?  Let  me  give  the  answer :  Because  on 
the  pages  of  American  history  are  written  the  names 
of  Motley  and  Douglas  Campbell,  of  Ruth  Putnam 
and  of  Griffis ;  because  the  wonderful  chorus  of  their 
different  voices  has  made  us  listen  to  another  song 
about  Holland,  sublime  like  the  ideals  which  the 

13 


14  '    INTRODUCTION 

i'iigrim  fathers  brought  with  them  from  Leyden,  pure 
and  simple  like  the  life  of  the  first  settlers  on  Man- 
hattan, sacred  and  full  of  charm  like  the  voice  of 
William  Penn's  mother  when  educating  her  son  in 
the  city  on  the  Meuse.  The  world's  history — and 
Holland  played  some  part  in  it  when  its  statesmen,  as 
in  the  case  of  William  the  Silent  and  William  the 
Third,  held  in  their  hands  the  balance  of  power  of 
Europe,  and  the  fate  of  Protestantism,  and  in  deadly 
struggle  a  faithful  nation  stood  by  them  to  conquer 
freedom  of  conscience  for  all  generations  to  come — 
the  world's  history  contains  a  great  many  jokes,  just 
as  a  picture  of  Rembrandt  contains  a  great  deal  of 
vain  darkness,  and  just  as  God's  world-plan  in  Milton's 
Paradise  Lost  contains  a  good  many  devils,  but  the 
world's  history  is  not  a  joke.  Is  there  anything  more 
sublime,  more  grand  for  the  contemplation  of  the 
human  soul,  than  the  proceedings  of  the  world's 
history;  that  panorama  of  the  leading  nations  in 
which  generation  after  generation  roll  to  their  graves, 
leaving  their  deeds  to  the  admiration  of  the  grateful, 
and  to  the  mockery  of  the  ungrateful ;  that  tremendous 
progress  of  the  human  race  in  grandeur  inferior  only 
to  the  Almighty  Hand  of  the  Unseen  One,  whose 
providential  leadership  is  worshipped  by  all  Creation, 
whose  praise  is  sung  by  every  creature?  In  that 
greatest  of  all  proceedings,  outside  of  which  disap- 
pears even  the  very  idea  of  time,  every  one  of  the 
leading  nations  has  its  own  period  to  play  its  part, 
and  to  make  its  history  grand  for  a  while,  and  nobody 
can  change  the  fact  that  the  great  period  of  Holland 
precedes  that  of  England,  and  nothing  is  more  natural 
than  that  the  political  and  commercial  history  of  Hol- 
land, its  industry,  its  art  and  literature,  its  whole 
standard  of  civilization  was  destined  to  be  a  great 


INTRODUCTION  15 

school  of  learning  for  its  successor  on  the  British 
Isles.  And  however  scornfully  a  successor  in  power 
and  leadership  may  look  down  upon  the  defeated  and 
declining  predecessor,  there  has  been  exerted  an  in- 
fluence far  reaching  and  covering  nearly  every  part  of 
life,  in  industry,  in  commerce,  in  social  and  domestic 
life,  in  literature  and  in  art,  and  that  influence  has 
found  its  most  natural  reflection  in  the  literature  of 
the  rising  nation  which  is  going  to  succeed  its  declin- 
ing rival. 

To  give  an  outline  of  this  influence  of  Holland  on 
English  literature  and  language  is  the  endeavor  made 
in  the  following  pages.  Only  an  outline,  as  there  could 
be  made  no  claim  whatever  of  completeness,  since 
researches  on  the  influence  of  Holland  are,  as  yet, 
still  in  their  first  period;  but  an  outline  that  gives  at 
least  an  idea  of  the  point  in  view. 

The  endeavor  is  to  contribute  to  the  knowledge  and 
history  of  English  language  and  literature ;  an  en- 
deavor attractive  and  interesting  because  the  English 
language  is  the  language  of  our  American  country, 
and  consequently  English  literature  will  be  of  the 
greatest  importance  in  the  education  of  our  own  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren.  This  last  fact  I  mention  with 
delight,  considering  it  as  one  of  the  greatest  blessings 
which  God's  Providence  has  given  to  the  American 
people,  because  in  literature  England  unquestionably 
stands  first  among  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

The  subject  treated  in  this  little  volume  was  sug- 
gested to  me  several  times  during  the  two  years  I  was 
lecturing  on  Dutch  History,  Art,  and  Literature  in 
the  University  of  Chicago.  When  I  talked  to  one  of 
my  colleagues  about  the  question  "Spencer- Van  der 
Noot"  to  another  about  "Vondel-Milton"  and  to  a 
third  about  "Elckerlick-Everyman,"  repeatedly  the 


16  INTRODUCTION 

suggestion  was  made  that  I  give  an  outline  of  all  the 
topics  in  English  Literature  in  which  the  influence  of 
Holland  was  traceable,  and  I  could  hardly  deny  that 
the  subject  really  lay  in  my  way.  Besides  that,  in 
fact,  I  gave  the  students  at  the  beginning  of  every 
course  an  outline  of  this  subject  amongst  the  reasons 
why  an  American  should  study  Dutch  History,  Art 
and  Literature.  It  may  interest  students  of  the  present 
subject  to  know  how  far  it  comes  into  contact  as  a 
special  study  with  the  more  general  field  of  historical 
information  about  Holland:  to  know  the  reasons  why 
Americans  should  be  interested  in  it.  I  give  them 
here  as  I  found  them  in  my  note-book : 

1.  Because  the  glorious  history  of  the  Dutch 
Republic  is  a  part  of  the  World's  history.    From 
the  year  1500  till  the  year  1700  the  headquarters 
of  the  World's  history  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Netherlands.     See  in  the  English  language  the 
works  of  J.  Ellis  Barker,  J.  A.  Froude,  Macau- 
lay,  Griffis,  Alexander  Young  and  others. 

2.  Because  the   Dutch  laid  the  foundations 
of  four  of  the  great  central  colonies  in  America, 
viz.,    New    York,    New    Jersey,    Delaware    and 
Pennsylvania.      See   the   works    of    Broadhead, 
O'Calleghan  and  Griffis. 

3.  Because    Holland    exerted    a   remarkable 
influence  on  the  first  English,  French  and  Ger- 
man settlers  in  America  during  the  seventeenth 
century.     See  Douglas  Campbell's  work:    "The 
Puritans" ;    and   my   lecture   on   the    subject   in 
"Dutch  History,  Art  and  Literature  for  Ameri- 
cans." 

4.  Because  the  Dutch  Republic  in  its  beau- 
tiful   history    is    the    only    mighty    Republic    in 
modern  times  of  which  we  can  study  the  rise,  the 
glory,  the  decline,  the  downfall  and  the  revival 
as  a  constitutional  monarchy;  a  history  full  of 
lessons  for  the  Republic  of  the  United   States. 


INTRODUCTION  17 

See  especially  J.  Ellis  Barker's  "The  Rise  and 
Decline  of  the  Dutch  Republic." 

5.  Because  the  history  of  the  Netherlands 
bears  such  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  United  States  that  a  comparison  is 
most  interesting.    See  the  works  of  John  Adams, 
and  my  lecture  on  this  subject  in  "Dutch  His- 
tory, Art  and  Literature  for  Americans." 

6.  Because  Holland  was  the  cradle  of  modern 
Democracy.      The    rise    of    the    Flemish    cities 
Bruges,    Ghent,    Antwerp,    and    later    Leyden, 
Dordrecht,  Amsterdam,  etc.,  have  been  the  start- 
ing points  in  the  great  struggle  against  mediaeval 
feudalism  and  hierarchy,  in  behalf  of  all  modern 
Democracy,  of  which  the  headquarters  now  are 
in  the  United  States.     See  the  works  of  Gui- 
ciardini,  Motley,  Thorold  Rogers,  etc. 

7.  Because  the  Dutch  settlers  from  the  first 
beginning  of  the  American  commonwealth  have 
been,  and  their  descendants  are  still  today,  an 
important  element  of  the  American  people.   They 
are  spread  over  all  the  States  to  the  number  of 
several     millions,     and     their     character     and 
influence  and  traditions  can  be  known  only  by 
studying  Dutch  history.     See  Henry  van  Dyke, 
"The    Spirit    of   America,"    Douglas    Campbell, 
"The  Puritans,"  etc. 

8.  Because  hardly  any  branch  of  science  or 
knowledge  in  its  history  can  be  well  understood 
without  studying  the  history  of  Holland.     For 
instance:     In  divinity,  Gomarus,  Arminius,  Mac- 
covius,  Gysbert  Voet,  Rivet,  Maresius ;  in  philos- 
ophy, Spinoza ;  in  law,  Hugo  Grotius,  Johannes 
Voet,  Paul  Voet,  Salmasius;  in  philology,  Eras- 
mus,  Junius   Lipsius,   Vossius,   etc. ;   in  botany, 
Linnaeus ;  in  medicine,  Boerhaave,  etc.,  etc.     See 
any  book  giving  the  history  of  one  or  the  other 
of  these  branches  of  learning. 

9.  Because  nobody  can  study  Dutch  art  with- 
out  some  knowledge   of  Dutch   history  and  of 
the  character  of  the  Dutch  nation.     The  schools 
of  Rubens  and  Rembrandt  are  most  closely  con- 


18  INTRODUCTION 

nected  with  prevailing  ideas  and  circumstances 
in  the  Netherlands. 

10.  Because  nobody  can  understand  Dutch 
literature  without  studying  Dutch  history.     And 
yet,    everybody    for    instance,    knows    Vondel's 
Lucifer,  and  ought  to  know  the  national  litera- 
ture to  which  it  belongs.    The  Japanese  profes- 
sor Kanura  called  the  Lucifer  one  of  the  most 
splendid  products  of  the  human  mind.     Such  a 
piece  of  work   stands  not  alone.     The  highest 
mountains  are  not  to  be  found  on  the  prairies,  but 
always  in  the  midst  of  many  other  mountains. 
A  nation  for  centuries  prominent  in  history  for 
learning  and  civilization  must  have  a  literature 
which    no    scholar,    who    has    self-respect,    can 
neglect.     See  L.  C.  Van  Noppen,  Vondel's  Luci- 
fer, translated  into  English,  and  the  works  on 
universal   literature,   also   the   works   on   Dutch 
literature,  by  Jonckbloet,  Ten  Brink,  Te  Winkel, 
Kalff  and  thousands  of  monographs. 

11.  Because  Dutch  politics  cannot  be  under- 
stood without  a  knowledge  of  Dutch  history,  and 
yet  the  policy  of  William  the  Silent  and  William 
III  (1650-1702)  contains  beautiful  principles  for 
the  guidance  of  a  republic,  just  as  the  policy  of 
Oldenbarnevelt,  John  de  Witt  and  the  Olichargs, 
was  and  is  destructive  and  ruinous  to  any  repub- 
lic.    See  on  the  policy  of  William  the  Silent: 
Harrison,    Ruth    Putnam,    Motley ;    on   that    of 
William  III :  Macaulay ;  on  that  of  Oldenbarne- 
velt, De  Witt,  and  the  Olichargs :  Ellis  Barker. 

Twice  all  Protestantism  was  maintained  and 
saved  from  being  crushed,  at  first  under  the 
leadership  of  William  the  Silent  against  the 
Roman  Catholic  world-empire  of  Spain,  and  sec- 
ondly under  the  leadership  of  William  III  against 
the  world-empire  of  France  under  Louis  XIV. 
These  two  great  Princes  of  Orange  had  only  one 
fault,  viz.,  they  were  not  ambitious  enough  to 
make  a  strong  central  government  into  a  per- 
manent one  by  changing  the  constitution.  On  the 
contrary,  the  policy  of  Barnevelt  and  DeWitt  by 


INTRODUCTION  19 

their  antagonism  against  the  House  of  Orange, 
by  their  neglect  of  army  and  navy,  by  their 
weakening  and  nearly  dissolving  the  union  and 
the  central  national  government,  by  their  appeal 
to  foreign  powers  to  sustain  their  party-policy, 
laid  the  foundations  for  the  decjine  and  downfall 
of  the  country,  just  as  happened  in  so  many 
republics  of  ancient  times.  These  are  indeed 
great  lessons  for  every  republic  including  the 
United  States. 

12.  Because  the  real  spirit  of  America  is  so 
much  like,   and  so  rooted  in,  the  spirit  of  the 
Dutch  Republic.    See  Henry  van  Dyke,  Miinster- 
berg,  and  Butler. 

13.  Because  Holland  was  the  cradle  of  the 
Reformation,  which  inspired  the  beginnings  of 
modern  Democracy.     Equality  before  God,  the 
priesthood  of  all  believers,  and  personal  respon- 
sibility  towards   God,   became   the   fundamental 
ideas  of  modern  Democracy,  in  sharp  contrast 
with  the  Democracy  of  the  later  French  Revolu- 
tion with  its  "Ni  Dieu  ni  Maitre."     The  Ameri- 
can Democracy  was  from  the  beginning  rooted 
in  the  ideas,  not  of  the  French  Revolution,  but 
in  those  of  the  Reformation,  and  remained  so  in 
the  time  of  John   Adams,   notwithstanding   the 
influence  of  Jefferson  and  Paine. 

14.  Because   Holland   even   till   our  present 
time    has    occupied    a    central    position    among 
European  nations  and  is  still  important  for  the 
high    standing    of    its    universities    and    for    its 
colonial   power.      The    Peace   Palace   is   at   the 
Hague.      The    world's   school   for   international 
law    will    be    there,    where    its    founder,    Hugo 
Grotius,    lived.      In    gaining    Nobel    prizes    the 
Dutch  nation   ranks  first.     The  Dutch  colonies 
cover  an  area  nearly  half  as  large  as  the  United 
States,  with  nearly  forty  millions  of  inhabitants. 
If  ranked  according  to  the  amount  of  imports 
from  them  into  the  United  States,  Holland  with 
its   colonies   is  always   the   third   or   the   fourth 
nation :     England  is  first,  Germany  second,  and 
either  France  or  Holland  is  third  or  fourth. 


20  INTRODUCTION 

15.  Because  there  has  always  been  a  close 
sympathy  between  Holland  and  America.     The 
Pilgrims  came  from  Holland.     Most  of  the  first 
French  and  German  settlers  found  a  refuge  in 
Holland,  before  they  came  to  America.     Four  of 
the   colonies   were    founded   by    Holland.     The 
victory  of  the  American  colonies  over  France, 
ending  in  the  conquest  of  Quebec  in  1750,  was 
a  consequence  of  the  struggle  of  Prince  William 
III  of  Orange  against  Louis  XIV.     During  the 
war  of  Independence  John  Adams  found  sym- 
pathy and  money  in  Holland,  and  at  least  three 
medals  were  at  that  time  made  in  the  Nether- 
lands, showing  the  sympathy  of  Holland  for  the 
sister  republic  of  the  United  States. 

1 6.  Because  many  American  institutions  of 
State  and  church  and  school,  in  their  historical 
development,  are   rooted   in   Dutch   institutions. 
See  Douglass  Campbell's  "The  Puritans,"  Ruth 
Putnam's  lecture  on  "The  Influence  of  Holland 
on  America." 

17.  Because  Holland  has  exerted  an  impor- 
tant influence  on  the  English  language  and  Eng- 
lish literature.     See  W.  W.  Skeat's  Principles  of 
Etymology,  Vol.  I,  and  his  Dictionary  of  English 
Etymology.      For  the   influence   of   Holland   on 
English  literature  there  are  many  monographs — • 
for  instance,  on  the  influence  of  Van  der  Noot 
on  Edmund  Spenser,  or  that  of  Hugo  Grotius 
and  Vondel  on  Milton,  but  a  general  outline  of 
the  whole  field  has  not  yet  been  made. 

Every  scholar  in  history  and  literature  sees  at  a 
glance  that  each  one  of  these  seventeen  arguments 
could,  without  much  trouble,  be  worked  out  in  a 
volume.  That  I  have  begun  with  the  last  point  is 
because  it  is  the  most  inquired  about,  and  the  least 
known. 

Finally,  a  few  remarks  about  the  division  of  the 
present  volume. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

According  to  the  title  one  might  expect  that  it 
should  be  divided  in  two  parts :  ( I )  The  influence  of 
Holland  on  English  language,  and  (2)  on  English 
literature.  And  yet,  in  order  that  the  whole  field  of 
the  subject  might  really  be  covered  by  this  research,  a 
third  part  had  to  be  added,  or  rather,  prefixed  before 
the  two  others. 

For  not  only  on  the  English  language  and  English 
literature,  but  even  on  the  development  of  the  whole 
field  of  comparative  philology,  by  which  we  know 
today  so  much  more  than  in  earlier  times  about  all 
the  elements  of  the  English  language  and  about  its 
relation  to  other  languages,  Holland  had  an  influence 
which  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 

This  development  of  comparative  philology  is 
therefore  so  closely  connected  with  our  knowledge  of 
the  English  language  and  at  the  same  time  has  been  so 
much  under  the  influence  of  Holland,  that  it  seems 
reasonable  to  treat  Holland's  influence  on  the  develop- 
ment of  comparative  philology,  first  of  all  even  before 
treating  its  influence  on  English  language  and 
literature. 

The  task  to  be  performed  in  the  following  pages 
is  therefore  naturally  divided  into  three  parts : 
I.    Holland's  influence  on  the  development  of  com- 
parative philology. 

II.    Holland's  influence  on  the  English   language. 
III.    Holland's  influence  on  English  literature. 


PART  I 

Holland's  Influence  on  the  Development 
of   Comparative  Philology 


CHAPTER    I 

THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  AND  COMPARATIVE 
PHILOLOGY 

More  than  any  other  the  English  language  is  a" 
mixture  of  many  languages1.  Consequently  there  is 
no  language  for  which  a  knowledge  of  the  develop- 
ment of  comparative  philology  is  so  important.  Every- 
body who  knows  what  is  meant  by  the  term  compara- 
tive philology  must  see  this  immediately.  Comparative 
philology,  as  the  first  part  of  this  term  indicates,  is  the 
study  which  emphasizes  the  comparison  of  different 
languages,  makes  a  research  for  their  relationship, 
tries  to  find  out  what  they  have  in  common  and  in 
which  points  they  differ,  along  which  lines  and  accord- 
ing to  which  laws  these  languages  changed  their 
words,  their  grammar,  and  their  syntax;  how  under 
the  influence  of  climate,  soil,  way  of  living,  and  other 
circumstances  from  dialects  they  became  languages; 
how  in  their  roots,  in  their  sound  system,  in  their 
etymology,  in  their  grammar  and  syntax  they  can  be 
traced  so  as  to  discover  their  relationship  and  their 

1  "Certainly  no  language  was  ever  composed  of  sucrf  numerous  and 
such  diverse  elements."  Walter  W.  Skeat.  Principles  of  English 
Etymology,  First  Series,  Second  edition,  Oxford,  1892,  p.  3. 

23 


24  LANGUAGE  AND  COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY 

differences,  and  consequently  how  every  one  of  them 
has  to  be  looked  at  in  its  historical  development.  A 
more  beautiful  way  to  get  a  thorough  knowledge  of  a 
language  than  along  these  lines  certainly  never  could 
be  chosen.  For  every  language  this  comparative,  this 
genealogical,  this  historical,  this  etymological  method 
is  exceedingly  interesting.  But  especially  for  the  Eng- 
lish language,  the  study  of  which  brings  the  philologist 
into  a  veritable  labyrinth  of  so  many  different  parts  of 
numerous  languages,  that  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
the  whole  mixture  in  all  its  constituent  elements  can 
hardly  be  considered  possible  without  those  historical, 
genealogical  and  etymological  studies,  which  we  call 
comparative  philology. 

England,  which  was  first  inhabited  by  the  -Celts 
with  their  own  language,  and  then  conquered  by  the 
Romans,  who  during  four  centuries  employed  there 
their  soldier's  Latin,  was  after  that  time  conquered  by 
the  Saxons,  Jutes  and  Angles  who  brought  their  own 
languages  or  dialects.  Later  on  England  was  con- 
quered by  the  Danes,  and  finally  by  the  Normans  under 
William  the  Conqueror.  These  latter  were  Northmen 
who  had  acquired  the  language  of  France.  England 
under  the  subsequent  and  abiding  influences  of  all 
these  conquests,  and  in  later  time  by  its  own  prevail- 
ing trade  in  permanent  contact  with  many  nations 
of  Europe,  and  of  the  whole  world,  finally  developed 
a  language  in  which  so  many  different  elements  had 
secured  a  permanent  place,  that  for  the  full  and  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  present  English  language  the 
study  of  comparative  philology  must  be  of  more  im- 
portance than  for  any  other  language  in  the  world,  be- 
cause no  other  language  contains  such  a  variety  of 
different  Clements. 


CHAPTER    II 
THE   GREAT    RESULTS   OF   COMPARATIVE   PHILOLOGY 

The  study  of  comparative  philology  is  especially 
important  for  the  English  language,  because  wonder- 
ful and  surprising  results  have  been  obtained  in  this 
field.  It  is  by  this  study  that  nowadays  we  know  that 
all  the  European  languages  together  with  some  Asiatic, 
languages  form  one  great  family,  commonly  called  the 
Indo-Germanic,  Indo-European,  or  Aryan  group,  and 
that  all  the  languages  of  this  whole  group  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  sprung  from  one  original  language, 
which  probably  first  divided  itself  into  three  different 
dialects  or  branches : 

1.  The  Asiatic,  consisting  in  later  times  of  the 
Sanskrit  (in  India),  the  Zend  (in  old  Persia)  and  the 
Armenian  (in  old  Armenia). 

2.  The  Southern  European  branch,  which  in  the 
course  of  history  was  divided  into  Greek,  Celtic  and 
Latin  which  last  was  the  parent  of  Italian,  Spanish 
and  French. 

3.  The  Northern  European  branch,  containing  the 
Germanic  group  and  the  Slavo-Lettic  languages. 

The  Slavo-Lettic  is  that  group  of  languages  which 
includes  in  its  south-eastern  branches  the  Russian, 
Bulgarian,  Servian,  Croatian  and  Slavonian,  and  in  its 
western  branch  the  Czechish  or  Bohemian  and  Polish, 
and  further  the  Lettic  which  includes  Lithuanian  and 
Lettish. 

The  Germanic  group,  later  appears  in  two  groups, 
viz.,  the  eastern  with  the  Scandinavian  and  the  Gothic, 

25 


26      RESULTS   OF   COMPARATIVE   PHILOLOGY 

and  the  western  including  High  German  (the  present 
German),  and  Low  German  including  English,  Dutch 
and  Frisian. 

Since  the  study  of  comparative  philology  has  dis- 
covered this  genealogical  coherency  of  all  the  Euro- 
pean languages  with  some  of  the  Asiatic,  a  most  beau- 
tiful field  for  the  study  of  every  one  of  these  languages 
has  been  opened  for  research.  Every  language  can  be 
traced  in  its  own  particular  growth.  The  lines  along 
which  it  changed  and  deviated  from  the  original  can 
be  indicated  by  comparison  with  other  languages  of 
the  same  family.  A  new  light  has  shone  on  the  study 
of  the  etymology,  grammar,  and  syntax  of  every 
language,  and  even  on  the  entire  history  of  the  nations 
and  the  civilization  of  Europe.  Since  that  time  every 
piece  of  ancient  and  mediaeval  literature,  no  matter  in 
what  language  it  was  written,  has  become  a  source  for 
the  study  of  languages  and  of  history  in  general. 

That  this  progress  of  comparative  philology  was 
important  especially  for  the  knowledge  of  the  English 
language  with  its  so  many  different  elements,  is  evi- 
dent enough,  and  beautiful  results  show  this.  Every- 
body who  knows,  for  instance,  the  works  of  W.  W. 
Skeat,1  and  especially  his  Etymological  Dictionary  of 
the  English  Language,  must  admire  the  researches,  by 
which  nearly  every  word  is  traced  in  its  history,  and 
by  which  is  determined  to  which  of  the  different  ele- 
ments of  the  present  English  language  it  originally  be- 
longed. And  the  comparative  grammars,  constructed 
since  the  first  great  endeavor  of  Bopp2  give  such  an 
insight  into  the  structure  of  several  languages  as  never 
could  have  been  gained  before. 

1  W.   W.   Skeat,   Etymological  Dictionary   of  the  English  Language, 
Fourth  edition.      Other   works  of   Skeat   are   for   instance   his  Principles 
of   English  Etymology,   2  vols.,   and   The   Science   of  Etymology. 

2  F.    Bopp,  A   Comparative   Grammar  of  the  Sanskrit,  Zend,   Greek, 
Latin,     Lithuanian,     Gothic,     German     and     Scandinavian     Languages. 
Translated  by   E.   B.   Eastwick,   Fourth   edition.     London,   1885. 


CHAPTER    III 

HOLLAND'S  SHARE  IN  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY 

That  such  a  movement  as  the  development  of  com- 
parative philology  did  not  reach  its  present  impor- 
tance in  one  moment,  or  even  in  a  few  years,  every- 
body can  easily  understand.  Extremely  difficult  for 
every  movement  of  this  kind  is  its  beginning",  when  it 
has  to  go  along  quite  new  lines.  As  long  as  it  remains 
groping  in  the  dark,  as  long  as  nobody  knows  in  which 
direction  to  go,  there  is  no  advance  and  no  progress. 
But  as  soon  as  a  presumption  arises  that  a  solution  is 
to  be  found  in  a  certain  direction,  then  the  most  won- 
derful success  in  advancing  to  the  solution  becomes  a 
mere  affair  of  labor  and  time.  Now  the  great  event 
in  the  starting  of  a  more  serious  study  of  languages 
by  comparative  philology  no  doubt  was  the  discovery 
and  the  study  of  what  was  left  of  the  Gothic  language, 
that  "guiding  star  of  the  Germanic  languages"  as 
Bopp1  calls  it.  For  of  all  the  Germanic  languages, 
including  English  and  Dutch,  the  Gothic  is  according 
to  Bopp  "the  mother  tongue  in  her  oldest  and  most 
perfect  form,"  that  language  "so  perfect  in  its  gram- 
mar."2 I  should  rather  call  it,  however,  the  oldest 
sister  than  the  mother.  What  the  Gothic  is  for  the 
Germanic  languages,  that  the  old  Asiatic  language  of 
India,  the  Sanskrit  is  for  all  the  Indo-Germanic  lan- 
guages together,  viz.,  the  oldest  and  best  preserved  of 
all,  "the  groundwork  and  connecting  bond  of  the 

1  F.  Bopp,  Comparative  Grammar,  Preface,  p.  XV. 

2  Ibidem,  p.   VII. 

27 


28        HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN   THE  STARTING 

comparison."1  "The  close  relationship  between  the 
Classical  (Greek  and  Latin)  and  the  Germanic  lan- 
guages has,  with  the  exception  of  mere  comparative 
lists  of  words,  copious  indeed,  but  destitute  of  princi- 
ple and  critical  judgment,  remained,  down  to  the 
period  of  the  appearance  of  the  Asiatic  intermediary 
(the  Sanskrit),  almost  entirely  unobserved,  although 
the  acquaintance  with  the  Gothic  dates  now  from  a 
century  and  a  half,"2  and  that  language  (viz.,  the 
Gothic)  is  so  perfect  in  its  grammar,  and  so  clear  in 
its  affinities,  that,  had  "it  been  earlier  submitted  to  a 
rigorous  and  systematic  process  of  comparison  and 
anatomical  investigation,  the  pervading  relation  of 
itself,  and  with  it,  of  the  entire  Germanic  stock,  to 
the  Greek  and  Roman,  would  necessarily  have  long 
since  been  unveiled,  tracked  through  all  its  variations, 
and  by  this  time  been  understood  and  recognized  by 
every  philologist."3  So  it  is  clear  that  in  the  study  of 
the  Gothic  and  the  Sanskrit  lay  the  key  for  the 
progress  of  comparative  philology,  and  for  every  more 
serious  study  of  any  one  of  the  Indo-Germanic  lan- 
guages. This  key  lay  in  Sanskrit  because  it  was  the 
best  preserved,  the  oldest  and  most  fundamental  of  all 
Indo-Germanic  languages,  and  in  Gothic  because  it 
was,  if  not  the  mother  tongue  in  the  peculiar  sense  of 
the  word,  at  least  the  oldest  and  best  preserved  sister 
language  of  the  Western  European  family. 

Centuries  after  centuries  passed  away  during  which 
the  whole  civilized  world  of  Europe  did  not  know  any- 
thing about  either  Gothic  or  Sanskrit. 

ilbid.,  p.  III. 

2  This  is  now  nearly  two  centuries  and  a  half. 

3  F.    Bopp,    Comparative   Grammar,    I,    Preface,   p.    VI.      The   study 
of    Sanskrit    in    modern    European    philology    dates    from    the    founda- 
tion of  the  Asiatic    Society  at   Calcutta,   in    1784.      Skeat,   Principles   of 
English    Etymology,    p.     too.       Skeat    calls    both    the    Sanskrit    and    the 
Gothic,     sister    languages     of    all    the     other    Indo-European,    and     not 
mother   languages,   as   at   the   start   of  comparative  philology   often    <vas 
done. 


HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING        29 

That  there  should  come  a  time,  when  the  scholars 
of  Europe  would  make  themselves  acquainted  with 
the  enormous  Sanskrit  literature  and  language,  was 
unavoidable.  A  language  with  a  literature  more  ex- 
pensive than  the  whole  classic  literature  of  Greece  and 
Rome  together,  could  not  in  our  modern  time,  re- 
main a  secret  to  the  scholars  of  the  modern  civilized 
world. 

But  with  Gothic  the  case  was  otherwise.  In  the 
greatest  possible  contrast  to  Sanskrit  literature,  which 
is  probably  the  most  voluminous  in  the  world,  the 
existing  literature  of  Gothic  is  probably  the  smallest 
of  any  civilized  nation  on  the  globe.  All  there  is  left 
of  the  Gothic  language  is,  besides  a  few  short  frag- 
ments, a  Gothic  translation  of  the  bible  by  Bishop 
Ulfilas  or  Vulphilas,  which  comprises  not  the  whole 
bible  but  only  the  greatest  part  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  some  chapters  of  the  Old  Testament.  And  even 
these  parts  of  the  Gothic  bible  are  not  incorrupt.  More 
than  half  of  what  is  left  of  this  Gothic  bible  of  Ulfilas 
is  contained  in  a  single  manuscript,  which  is  called 
the  silver-codex,  or  codex  argenteus,  because  it  is 
written  for  the  greater  part  in  silver  letters  on  parch- 
ment. 

Now  it  is  to  Holland  that  the  world  owes  the 
early  appreciation,  the  preservation  during  many  cen- 
turies, and  at  last  the  publishing — more  than  one  and 
a  half  century  earlier  than  any  other  part  of  this 
small  literature  was  published — of  this  most  precious 
codex,  containing  the  treasures  of  the  Gothic  lan- 
guage.1 By  the  Dutchman  Ludger,  the  monastery  of 
Werden  was  founded  at  the  time  of  Charlemagne,  the 
monastery  whither  the  silver-codex  was  brought  from 

1  "Niederlander  haben  das  Verdienst  zuerst  auf  die  ReSte  des 
Gothischen  hingewiesen  zu  haben."  Hermann  Paul,  Grundriss  der 
Germanischen  Philologie,  I,  p.  16. 


30        HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING 

Italy  probably  by  Ludger  himself.  After  having  been 
preserved  there  for  many  centuries,  it  was  again  by  a 
Dutchman  that  it  was  discovered,  who  was  the  first  to 
call  attention  to  the  Gothic  language. 

It  was  a  Dutchman  by  the  name  of  De  Busbeck 
who  in  the  years  1554-1564  found  the  only  place  on 
earth  where  still  lived  some  remnant  of  the  Gothic 
people,  viz.,  in  a  remote  corner  of  the  Crimea  in 
Southern  Russia,  and  from  these  he  collected  some 
specimens  of  the  old  Gothic  language. 

Later  it  was  again  a  Dutchman,  Isaac  Vossius, 
who  brought  the  silver-codex  from  the  library  of 
Queen  Christina  of  Sweden  to  the  Netherlands  to 
make  it  the  subject  of  research  for  the  best  scholars 
of  his  time,  and  again  another  Dutchman,  Franciscus 
Junius,  who  studied,  and  then  published  the  silver- 
codex,  and  devoted  part  of  his  life  to  studying  the 
Gothic  language  and  to  beginning  the  more  serious 
movement  of  comparative  philology. 

After  Junius,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  it  was  the 
Dutch  school  of  Ten  Kate  and  Huydecoper,  who,  a 
hundred  years  before  the  brothers  Grimm,  carried  on 
researches  in  Gothic  and  in  comparative  philology 
and  who  consequently  began  the  study  of  mediaeval 
literature. 

And  even  after  the  great  work  of  the  German 
school  of  the  brothers  Grimm,  when,  in  consequence 
of  all  these  researches,  the  attention  of  all  Europe  was 
called  to  mediaeval  literature  because  of  its  significance 
for  the  further  progress  of  the  movement,  it  was  again 
the  Dutch  school  of  philologists,  which  produced, 
among  others,  a  Dr.  Jonckbloet,  whose  elaborate  work 
on  mediaeval  literature  is  still  in  our  days  one  of  the 
best  books  of  reference. . 

It  is  not   difficult  to   explain  these   statements  a 


HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN   THE  STARTING        31 

little  more  elaborately,  as  every  part  of  them,  al- 
though scattered  in  many  books,  has  been  told  many 
times  before,  and  all  there  is  to  do  is  to  bring  them 
together  under  their  common  source,  that  is  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Dutch  nation. 

Ulfilas  or  Vulfula  (310-380  A.  D.)  the  author  of 
the  Gothic  version  of  the  bible  was  bishop  of  the 
East-Goths,  living  at  that  time  in  what  was  called 
Moesia,  being  the  *  present  Bulgaria  and  Servia.  In 
the  turmoil  of  the  enormous  migrations  in  Europe 
shortly  after  the  death  of  Ulfilas,  the  Goths  were 
driven  from  Moesia,  and  the  West-Goths  were  spread 
over  Italy,  Spain  and  part  of  France,  but  they  soon 
lost  their  own  language  by  adopting  that  of  their  new 
fatherland.  By  the  West-Goths  the  Gothic  transla- 
tion of  the  bible  was  brought  to  Italy,  and  it  is  in  that 
country  that  the  most  precious  part  of  it,  the  silver- 
codex  and  some  minor  fragments  were  preserved. 
From  Italy  the  silver-codex  was  brought  to  the  mon- 
astery of  Werden  on  the  Rhur,  about  ten  miles  north 
of  Cologne,  near  the  borderline  of  Germany  and  the 
Netherlands,  and  there  it  was  preserved  till  the  six- 
teenth century.  The  question  is,  who  brought  the 
precious  manuscript  from  Italy  to  the  monastery  at 
Werden?  Felix  Dahn1  supposes  that  one  of  the 
Merovingian  kings  of  France,  who  often  brought 
treasures  from  their  conquests  to  monasteries  of  the 
Frankish  empire,  might  have  carried  this  Gothic  codex 
to  Northern  shores.  This  is  a  possibility  but  not  the 
most  probable  one,  or  rather  it  is  not  a  possibility  at 
all.  A  Frankish  king  would  not  have  brought  it  to 
Werden,  a  pure  Frisian  and  Saxonian  institution,  but 
rather  to  one  of  the  monasteries  in  the  center  of  the 

1  Felix  Dahn,  Urgeschichte  der  Germanischen  und  Romanischen 
Volker,  I,  423. 


32        HOLLAND'S  SHARE  IN   THE  STARTING 

Prankish  empire.  Moreover  it  is  impossible  that  a 
Merovingian  king  could  have  brought  a  codex  to  the 
monastery  of  Werden,  which  did  not  yet  exist  in  the 
time  of  the  Merovingian  kings.  "Some  people,"  says 
Massmann,"1  "have  thought  of  Ludger,  the  famous 
founder  of  the  Werden  monastery,  who  lived  for 
three  years  and  a  half  in  Italy."  And  this  supposition 
looks  much  more  probable  indeed.  Ludger  was  a 
man  of  great  learning  and  ability.  He  was  the  son  of 
a  Frisian  noble  family.  His  grandfather  Wurfing 
lived  near  Dokkum  in  Friesland  and  was  closely  con- 
nected with  the  court  of  King  Radboud.  Afraid  of 
the  treacherous  and  heathen  king  Radboud,  Wurfing 
fled  to  the  court  of  the  Prankish  prince  Grimoald,  who 
had  married  Theosinde,  the  daughter  of  Radboud. 
There,  at  the  court  of  Grimoald  was  born  Theadgrin 
the  father  of  Ludger,  and  this  Theadgrin  settled  later 
with  his  family  at  Zuylen  near  Utrecht,  where  in  the 
year  744  Ludger  was  born.  Ludger' s  abilities  were 
great  from  his  earliest  boyhood,  and  his  education  was 
splendid.2  After  he  had  finished  his  courses  in  the 
trivium  and  the  quadrivium  at  the  episcopal  school  at 
Utrecht,  and  had  learned  his  Greek  and  his  Latin,  he 
studied  four  years  at  York  under  the  famous  Alcuin, 
the  intimate  friend  of  Charlemagne.  Ludger  studied 
till  his  thirty-first  year  and  then  resolved  to  devote  his 
life  to  missionary  work  among  the  Frisians  and 
Saxons.  He  worked  at  first  at  Deventer,  afterwards 


1  H.   F.   Massman,-  Ulfilas.     F,inleitung,   p.   L/VI.     The  same  opinion 
in  W.  de  Hoog,  Studien,  etc.,  I,   14. 

2  On   the    life    of    Ludg-er    see:      i.    Alfridi   vita   Ludgeri.      2.    Paris 
disquisitio   de  Ludgero,  Frisionum  Saxonumquc  Apostolo.     Amstelodami 
T8S9.     3.    Uffingi  monachi  carmen   de  s.   Ludgero.     4.   Augustin  Kusing. 
Der  Heilige  Ludger.     Munster,    1878.      5.   The  best  work  is  Dr.  L.  Th. 
W.     Pingsmann.      Der    Heilige    Ludgerus.      Apostel    der    Friesen    und 
Sachsen.      Freiburg   im    Breisgau,    1879.      Ludger   was   one   of   the   most 
typical  Dutchmen  that  can  be  thought  of.     A  Frisian  by  birth,  educated 
among  the  Franks,  and  living  his  whole  further  life  among  the  Saxons, 
he  imbibed  from  his  youth  until  his  death  the  spirit  of  the  three  tribes 
which   formed   the   three   great  elements   of  the  later   Dutch   nation. 


HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING        33 

in  the  Northern  part  of  the  Netherlands,  especially  the 
province  of  Groningen,  later  among  the  Saxons  all 
along  the  borderline  between  the  Netherlands  and 
Germany,  from  the  North  to  the  South,  became  the 
first  bishop  of  Munster,  and  founded  at  last  his  famous 
institution,  the  monastery  of  Werden  on  the  Rhur,  an 
important  center  of  learning  for  maintaining  and  con- 
tinuing his  great  work  of  civilization.  He  fully  de- 
serves the  title  of  apostle  of  the  Frisians,  and  of  the 
Saxons.  Ludger  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  and 
he  must  have  known  thoroughly  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
the  old  Saxon,  the  Frisian,  the  Greek  and  the  Latin 
languages.  Not  without  reason  one  oi  his  biographers 
brings  his  name  in  contact  with  the  authorship  of  the 
great  Saxon  Christian  epos  the  Heliand.1  Either  by 
himself  or  by  one  of  his  pupils,  under  his  inspiration 
and  suggestion,  the  Heliand  may  have  been  written. 
That  this  man,  who  stayed  for  three  years  and  a  half 
in  Italy  should  have  brought  from  Italy  some  manu- 
scripts and  books  to  his  beloved  new  monastery  at 
Werden  is  not  improbable,  and  when  in  later  years  in 
that  monastery  is  found  a  manuscript  which  at  the 
time  of  Ludger  was  some  centuries  old,  then  the  pre- 
sumption certainly  is  not  quite  without  foundation  that 
it  was  probably  Ludger  who  brought  it  from  Ifaly. 
Anyhow  the  monastery  of  Werden  was  a  thoroughly 
Dutch  institution,  and  its  founder  was  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  his  age,  and  was  a  Dutchman  by  birth 
and  by  education.  It  was  in  his  monastery  whither  it 
was  probably  brought  by  his  personal  action,  that  the 

\  "Dieses  so  hoch  gefeierte  Werk  ist  auf  sachsischen  Boden  in 
sachsischer  Mundart  und  urn  die  Zeit  des  hi.  Ludgerus  geschaffen 
worden.  War  es  die  liebliche  Frucht  des  von  den  heiligen  Apostel  der 
Sachsen  ausgestreuten  Samen?  oder  steht  es  in  noch  inniger  Beziehung 
zum  hi.  Ludgerus?  Schmeller,  der  Treffliche  Herausgeber  des  Heliand, 
nimmt  kein  Anstand  dem  Heiliger  selber  oder  doch  seinen  Schiillern 
in  Werden  oder  Munster  einen  bedeutenden  Antheil  an  der  Abfassung 
desselben  zuzuschreiben."  Pingsmann.  Der  heilige  Ludger,  p.  170. 


34        HOLLAND'S   SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING 

famous  Gothic  silver-codex  was  preserved  and  it  was 
discovered  there  in  the  sixteenth  century.1 

The  first  discovery  of  the  Gothic  codex  in  the  last 
years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  the  later  more 
serious  study  of  it,  ending  in  its  being  published  in 
the  year  1665  at  Dordrecht,  was  almost  entirely  the 
work  of  Dutch  scholars.  Several  of  them  before  the 
year  1600  speak  of  Gothic,  and  show  that  they  know 
the  existence  of  the  silver-codex  at  Werden.2  The 
only  book  that  deserves  to  be  mentioned  here  is  that 
of  the  Dutchman  Bonaventura  Volcanius,  who  was 
born  at  Bruges,  and  was  later  rector  at  Antwerp,  and 
finally  professor  in  the  University  of  Leyden.  It  is 
entitled :  On  the  literature  and  language  of  the  Goths. 
It  is  written  in  Latin  and  published  at  Leyden  in  the 
year  1597. 

It  was  at  about  the  time  of  the  publishing  of  this 
little  book  that  the  silver-codex  was  carried  from 
Werden  to  Prague,3  whence  in  the  year  1648,  just 
before  the  peace  of  Westphalia,  it  was  transported  by 
the  Swedish  army  to  Stockholm,  and  presented  to  the 
Swedish  queen  Christina.4  In  the  same  remarkable 
year,  1648,  the  Dutch  scholar  Isaac  Vossius  (1618- 
1689),  son  of  the  well  known  Gerardus  Vossius 
(15^7-1649),  came  to  Sweden  to  be  the  tutor  of  the 
young  queen  Christina  in  the  Greek  language.  Now 
Isaac  Vossius  was  a  man  who  loved  old  books  and 
manuscripts ;  he  had  travelled  all  over  Europe,  and  at 


1  When  some  years  ago  I  visited  Werden  in   order  to  see  what  was 
left  of  the  great  work  of  Ludger,   I  found  that  the  old  buildings  of  the 
monastery  are  still  there,  but  are  now  used  for  a  prison.     The  situation 
of   the    monastery    dominating   the    beautiful    natural    scenery    along   the 
Rhur  is  wonderful.     A  statue  on  the  bridge  connecting  the  two  sides  of 
the  Rhur  attracted  my  attention.     It  was  not  a  statue  of  Ludger  but  of 
the   modern    general    Von    Moltke,    whose   birthplace    was   Werden.      Sic 
transit   gloria   mundi! 

2  Massmann.      Ulfilas.      Einleitung,   p.    LJI. 

3  Ibid,   p.    UH. 

4  Massmann.      Ulfilas.     Einleitung,  p.  1,111. 


HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING        35 

the  time  of  his  death  in  1689  he  left  such  a  remarkable 
collection  of  books  and  manuscripts  that  Leyden 
University  bought  it  for  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand 
guilders,  at  that  time  an  enormous  price.  Isaac  Vos- 
sius  stayed  at  Stockholm  from  1648  till  1654  and  when 
he  came  back  to  the  Netherlands  he  brought  with  him 
the  silver-codex  of  the  Gothic  language. 

In  no  country  could  this  codex  at  that  time  have 
met  with  a  better  reception  than  in  the  Netherlands. 
"The  Netherlands,"  says  Herman.  Paul,  "became  in 
the  second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  since  the 
founding  of  the  University  of  Leyden,  the  central 
fosterplace  of  sciences,  and  especially  of  philology,  for 
all  Europe."1 

It  seems  that  the  silver-codex  did  not  become  the 
property  of  Isaac  Vossius,  but  that  the  great  liberality 
and  friendship  of  the  queen  Christina,  allowed  him  to 
borrow  it  for  as  long  as  he  liked.  This  is  probable 
because  after  ten  years,  during  which  time  it  remained 
at  the  home  of  Vossius  and  Junius,  who  lived  together, 
it  was  returned  to  the  chancellor  of  Sweden,  Count  de 
la  Gardie,  and  probably  by  his  order  was  given  to  the 
University  library  at  Upsala,  where  it  has  been  kept 
till  the  present  time. 

In  nearly  every  book  in  which  is  given  a  story  of 
the  codex  it  is  said  that  Count  de  la  Gardie  "presented" 
it  to  the  library  of  Upsala,  and  this  gives  the  impres- 
sion that  at  that  time  the  codex  was  his  personal  prop- 
erty, and  consequently  also  had  been  the  personal 
property  of  Vossius  and  Junius.  If  that  had  been 
the  case  Junius  and  Vossius  certainly  never  would 
have  given  or  sold  it  to  de  la  Gardie,  and  there  would 
have  been  no  special  reason  for  Junius  to  dedicate  the 
volume,  in  which  he  published  the  codex,  to  de  la 

i  Hermann  Paul.     Grundriss  der  Germanischen  Philologie.  I,  p.    15. 


36        HOLLAND'S   SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING 

Gardie.  But  if,  on  the  contrary,  as  I  suppose,  Count 
de  la  Gardie  as  chancellor  of  the  Swedish  govern- 
ment, with  great  liberality,  left  the  codex  in  the  hands 
of  Dutch  scholars  for  not  less  than  ten  years,  then 
there  was  a  real  reason  for  Junius  to  dedicate  the 
volume,  in  which  at  last  the  codex  was  published,  to 
Count  de  la  Gardie.  Even  in  that  case  the  statement 
the  de  la  Gardie  "presented"  it  to  the  Upsala  library 
may  be  maintained,  but  in  the  sense,  that  he  did  it  in 
his  quality  as  chancellor,  and  in  the  name  of  the 
Government. 

Now  Isaac  Vossius  himself,  although  he  had 
studied  many  languages,  and  for  instance  had  made 
a  special  study  of  Arabic,  seems  to  have  realized  that 
he  was  not  the  right  man  to  study  the  language  of  the 
silver-codex.  But  he  had  an  uncle  by  the  name  of 
Franciscus  Junius,  with  whom,  after  his  return  from 
Sweden,  he  lived  at  the  same  house,  and  in  him  he 
found  a  man  who,  because  he  had  for  several  years 
been  absorbed  in  the  study  of  those  languages  which 
stood  the  nearest  to  the  Gothic,  was  exactly  qualified 
for  this  task.  So  Isaac  Vossius  entrusted  the  silver- 
codex  to  the  hands  of  Franciscus  Junius.  And  this 
famous  son  of  a  famous  father  made  the  precious 
manuscript  a  subject  of  a  research,  for  the  results  of 
which  all  philologists  in  the  world  in  all  times  to  come 
will  give  him  credit,  and  by  which  he  opened  a  new 
era  in  the  comparative  study  of  languages. 

Junius'  father,  whose  name  was  also  Franciscus 
Junius,  a  nobleman  by  birth,  by  intellect,  by  scholar- 
ship and  by  virtue,  as  the  historian  Brandt  describes 
him,  was  born  in  1545  at  Bourges  in  France,  studied 
theology  at  Geneva  during  the  last  years  of  John  Cal- 
vin's life,  and  went  from  there  as  a  young  Reformed 
preacher  to  Antwerp  in  the  Southern  Netherlands. 


HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN    THE   STARTING        37 

After  having  endured  many  dangers  from  persecution, 
he  fled  with  William  of  Orange  and  with  thousands 
of  other  Protestants  to  Germany  in  the  year  1567, 
when  the  duke  of  Alva  came  to  the  Netherlands. 
There  he  stayed  in  several  places,  was  for  a  while  a 
preacher  to  William  the  Silent,  was  professor  at  Hei- 
delberg and  finally  came  back  to  the  Netherlands  in 
the  year  1592,  to  be  professor  at  Ley  den  University 
for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life,  till  he  died  in  the 
year  1602.  He  had  been  married  four  times,  and  all 
his  four  wives  were  Dutch  women. 

His  son,  who  in  later  years  became  so  famous  for 
his  study  of  the  Gothic  and  other  languages,  was  a 
child  of  only  three  years  when  his  father  became  pro- 
fessor at  Leyden.  He  was  born  in  the  year  1589  at 
Heidelberg,  where  his  father  had  married  a  Dutch 
woman  from  Antwerp,  Johanne  1'  Hermite,  his  third 
wife.  So  the  young  Franciscus  from  his  earliest 
childhood  was  educated  as  a  Dutch  boy  among  the 
brave  citizens  of  Leyden,  who  had  suffered  so  much 
during  the  famous  siege  and  among  whom  also  Rem- 
brandt (1609-1669)  found  such  an  inspiring  educa- 
tion. Only  thirteen  years  of  age  when  his  father  died, 
he  came  under  the  guardianship  of  his  brother-in-law, 
his  senior  by  twelve  years,  and  rector  of  the  Latin 
school  at  Dordrecht.  There  he  took  his  first  courses 
in  languages,  and  later  he  went  to  the  University  of 
Leyden  to  study  theology  so  that  in  the  year  1618  we 
find  him  a  young  minister  in  the  Reformed  church  at 
Hilligersberg  near  Rotterdam.  So  we  see  that  Junius 
by  his  university  examinations  really  was  not  labelled 
as  a  philologist  but  as  a  theologian.  But  in  the  world's 
history  the  question  is  not  how  a  real  scholar  is 
labelled  by  the  school  courses  in  his  youth,  but  rather 
what  he  proves  to  be  able  to  do.  And  so  in  later  years 


38        HOLLAND'S   SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING 

by  his  splendid  work  in  the  field  of  philology,  Junius 
was  graduated  as  a  real  doctor  of  philology,  not  by 
any  school  examination,  but  by  the  more  important 
examination  which  posterity  confers  upon  every  man 
after  it  can  be  recognized  what  he  has  done  in  behalf 
of  the  human  race.  The  course  of  events  in  the  con- 
temporaneous history  of  a  nation  sometimes  has  such 
an  influence  on  the  life  of  a  man  as  to  lead  him  along 
other  lines  than  those  which  at  first  he  seemed  des- 
tined to  follow.  So  it  was  with  Junius.  In  the  year 
1619  in  consequence  of  the  resolutions  taken  at  the 
synod  of  Dordrecht,  Junius  for  being  a  Remonstrant 
was  dismissed  from  his  office  as  a  minister.  He  left 
the  Netherlands  and  went  at  first  to  France,  but  soon 
afterwards  to  England,  where  he  spent  many  years  in 
the  service  of  Arundel,  duke  of  Norfolk,  later  in  the 
service  of  the  noble  family  De  Vere  at  Oxford  as  the 
tutor  of  the  young  count  Albericus  de  Vere,  whom 
during  the  years  1642—1646  he  accompanied  to  the 
Netherlands,  where  he  lived  most  of  the  time  at  the 
Hague.  About  this  period  of  his  life,  probably  from 
the  year  1646  until  1648  Junius  went  for  two  years  to 
Freisland  to  study  the  Frisic  language.  After  the 
death  of  his  brother-in-law,  Gerardus  Vossius,  who 
had  been  his  guardian,  he  went  to  Amsterdam  and 
stayed  there  with  his  sister,  the  widow  of  Gerardus 
Vossius.  After  the  year  1655,  when  Isaac  Vossius 
came  back  from  Sweden,  bringing  with  him  the  Gothic 
silver-codex,  Junius  with  his  sister  and  her  son  Isaac 
Vossius  settled  at  the  Hague,  where  they  remained 
together  for  several  years  till  Junius  and  Vossius  both 
went  to  England,  Vossius  in  the  year  1670  to  live 
there  till  he  died  at  London  in  1689,  and  Junius  in 
1675  to  live  there  till  he  died  at  the  home  of  Vossius 
at  Windsor  in  the  year  1677. 


HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING        39 

During  his  earlier  years  in  England  Junius  had 
made  a  thorough  study  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Eng- 
lish language  and  literature,  and  one  of  the  results  was 
his  publication  of  the  Paraphrase  of  Csedmon  printed 
at  Amsterdam  in  1655.  Besides  this  he  had  made 
transcripts  of  many  old  English  manuscripts.1  As  a 
result  of  his  study  of  the  Frisic  language  he  published 
four  works:  i.  Leges  Frisionum  to  which  he  added 
a  Frisic  poem  of  four  pages  entitled :  Hoe  dae  Friesen 
Roem  wonner ;  2.  Liber  legum  et  consuetudinum  frisi- 
carum,  frisice;  3.  Leges  Frisionum  antique  edita  per 
Sibrand  Siccama;  and  4.  Dictionarium  Frisic o-Latinum 
to  which  he  added :  Carmina  Frisica  cum  notis  Junii 
ex  chartis  laceris. 

From  all  this  we  may  draw  the  conclusion  that 
Junius  knew  thoroughly  the  English,  the  Anglo-Saxon, 
the  Frisic  and  the  Dutch  languages  and  that  he  was 
well  acquainted  with  German,  French,  Latin,  Greek 
and  Hebrew,  as  being  a  theologian  from  Leyden  Uni- 
versity, and  it  certainly  was  a  fortunate  event  in  the 
history  of  philology  that  to  the  able  hands  of  this  man 
came  the  main  codex  of  the  Gothic  language.  I  fear 
no  contradiction  when  I  say  that  in  all  Europe  hardly 
could  have  been  found  a  man  to  whom  the  silver-codex 
could  better  have  been  entrusted  than  to  Franciscus 
Junius. 

After  this  survey  of  Junius'  life  we  return  to  those 
ten  years  from  1655  to  1665  during  which  Junius 
studied  the  Gothic  language  from  the  silver-codex, 
living  together  with  his  sister,  the  widow  of  Gerardus 
Vossius  and  her  son  Isaac  Vossius.  How  interesting 
it  is  to  see  those  two  great  Dutch  scholars,  Isaac 
Vossius  and  his  uncle  Junius,  living  for  some  years 

1  See  Logeman.  Junius'  transcripts  of  old  English  Texts,  in  the 
Academy  of  1890;  quoted  by  De  Hoog.  Studies,  etc.,  I,  p.  10. 


40        HOLLAND'S   SHARE   IN   THE   STARTING 

together  a  quiet  life,  devoted  to  their  much  beloved 
literary  and  linguistic  researches  in  the  rustic  town 
of  the  Hague  of  that  time  with  its  beautiful  environs ; 
to  see  these  two  European  scholars,  who  were  during 
so  many  years  before,  nearly  all  the  time  abroad, 
either  in  France  with  Hugo  Grotius,  or  in  England  in 
the  company  of  British  lords,  or  in  Sweden  at  the 
court  of  Queen  Christina,  studying  and  making  their 
researches  in  all  libraries,  leading  with  only  a  few 
others  the  development  of  European  learning,  to  see 
those  two  remarkable  men  living  together  in  quiet 
devotion  enjoying  the  company  and  the  delightful  con- 
versation of  each  other,  both  in  their  daily  life  under 
the  maternal  care  of  the  widow,  who  was  the  older 
sister  of  one,  and  the  mother  of  the  other.  Here 
they  met  with  one  of  the  great  problems  in  the  history 
of  philology,  the  study  and  the  investigation  of  the 
contents  of  that  famous  Gothic  manuscript  that  re- 
quired for  several  years  the  industrious  toil  of  the 
man  who  more  than  anyone  was  qualified  for  this 
work.  During  ten  years  Junius  occupied  himself  with 
this  great  and  difficult  task,  and  at  the  end  of  those 
ten  years  he  gave  to  the  world  and  to  all  posterity  the 
results  of  his  labor  by  publishing  in  the  year  1665  at 
Dordrecht  the  four  gospels  contained  in  the  Gothic 
codex,  together  with  an  Anglo-Saxon  version1  of  the 
same  part  of  the  bible.  To  this  comparative  edition 
of  the  four  gospels  in  Anglo-Saxon  and  in  Gothic,  he 
added  a  little  dictionary,  or  glossarium,  as  a  first  step 
for  the  further  study  of  the  new  field.  That  Junius 
in  this  great  effort  did  not  immediately  bring  the  new 
field  of  learning  to  its  highest  development,  and  that 
he  made  some  mistakes,  is  no  wonder  indeed.  The 


1  This  Anglo-Saxon  version  had  been  published  before,  viz.,  in  the 
year  1571  by  John  Fox.  De  Hoog.  Studies,  I,  p.  14.  Junius  however 
made  a  revised  edition. 


HOLLAND'S  SHARE   IN   THE  STARTING        41 

best  philologist  of  our  days  may  look  at  Junius  as  our 
present  engineers  look  at  the  inventor  of  the  first 
steam  engine.  But  like  the  work  of  Watts,  so  Junius' 
work  was  an  event  in  history,  and  it  began  a  great 
movement.  A  movement  not  the  least  in  England, 
where  Junius  had  lived  for  so  many  years,  where  he 
had  given  so  much  care  to  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  lan- 
guage of  the  country  and  where  he  personally  had 
gained  such  fame  in  the  literary  world.  Scholars  of 
good  ability  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Junius,  and 
soon  George  Hickes,1  although  a  theologian  by  pro- 
fession like  Junius  himself,  studied  successfully  the 
Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Gothic  languages,  and  after  him, 
during  the  eighteenth  century  Edward  Lye  wrote  his 
famous  Dictionary  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Gothic 
languages,  published  after  the  death  of  the  author  in 
the  year  1772.  It  was  also  Lye  who  ameliorated  the 
Etymologicum  Anglicanum,  which  Junius  had  left  to 
the  Bodleian  library,  and  which  was  published  after 
the  death  of  Lye,  viz.,  in  the  year  1773 ;  a  work  which 
Samuel  Johnson  used  for  the  latest  editions  of  his 
Dictionary  of  the  English  Language.2 

1  Hickes   published   at   least  two   important   works:      i.   Institutiones 
grammaticae    Anglo-Saxonica    et    Moeso-Gothiccr,    1669.      2.    Linguarum 
veterum    Septentrionalium    Thesaurus,    1705.      See    De    Hoog,    Studies, 
I,   16. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  17. 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE   DUTCH   SCHOOL  OF   LAMBERT   TEN   KATE  AND 
BALTHAZAR  HUYDECOPER 

In  Holland  not  less  than  in  England,  after  the 
example  of  Junius,  a  school  of  scholars  arose,  who 
studied  the  languages  in  their  historical  development 
and  in  comparison  with  each  other.  Arnold  Moonen 
(1664-1711),  William  Sewel  (1654-1720),  Lambert 
ten  Kate  (1674-1731)  and  Balthazar  Huydecoper 
(1695-1778)  were  the  most  prominent  men  of  this 
school.1 

Arnold  Moonen  and  William  Sewel  studied  espe- 
cially the  grammar  of  the  Dutch  and  the  English  lan- 
guages ;  Lambert  ten  Kate  studied  the  relationship  be- 
tween the  Gothic,  the  Dutch,  the  Anglo-Saxon,  the 
German  and  the  Icelandic  languages ;  and  Balthazar 
Huydecoper  devoted  a  great  part  of  his  life  to  the 
study  of  mediaeval  literature,  which  came  to  the  fore- 
ground as  a  natural  consequence  of  the  study  and  the 
importance  of  Gothic,  and  consequently  of  all  the 
literary  remains  of  past  centuries. 

Moonen  published  his  Dutch  grammar  in  the  year 
1706,  which  remained  the  textbook  during  a  great  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century;  Sewel,  whose  grandfather 
Jan  Willem  Sewel  was  born  in  the  Netherlands  and 
married  a  Dutch  woman  Judith  Tinspenning,  kept  up 
his  traditional  love  for  the  English  language — his 

1  Herman  Paul.  Grundriss  der  Germanischen  Philologic.  2  vols., 
I.  P-  35-  W.  J.  A.  Jonckbloet.  Geschiedenis  der  Ned.  Letterkunde.  V, 
566.  Jan  te  Winkel.  De  Ontwikkelingsgag  der  Ned,  Letterkunde,  III, 
354-362.  Van  der  Aa.  Biographisch  Woordenboek  on  the  names  of 
these  authors. 

42 


THE  DUTCH   SCHOOL  43 

grandfather  came  with  the  Brownists  from  England 
about  the  year  1600 — the  mother  tongue  of  his  ances- 
tors, and  studied,  besides  English  and  Dutch,  several 
other  languages:  French,  Latin  and  Greek.  He 
published  in  1712  a  Dutch  grammar,  in  1740  a  com- 
pendious guide  for  the  Low  Dutch  language,  in  1727 
his  famous  dictionary  of  the  English  and  Dutch  lan- 
guages, and  in  1718  an  ameliorated  edition  of  the 
Flemish  grammar  of  La  Grace. 

But  the  master  of  this  school  was  no  doubt  Lam- 
bert ten  Kate.  He  was  a  man  of  great  abilities  and  of 
fine  taste.  He  studied  not  only  philosophy,  literature 
and  languages,  but  he  was  as  well  a  great  lover  of  art, 
and  collected  a  beautiful  library  of  books  about  art 
and  literature.  His  favorite  study  was,  however,  com- 
parative philology.  In  the  year  1710  he  published  a 
book  on  the  relationship  of  the  Dutch  and  the  Gothic 
languages.  But  his  best  work  was  his  Introduction  to 
the  higher  knowledge  of  the  Dutch  language,  2  vols., 
Amst.  1723,  in  which  he  compared  the  Dutch  with  the 
Gothic,  the  Frankish,  the  German,  the  Anglo-Saxon 
and  the  Icelandic.  After  his  death  he  left  several  un- 
published writings,  now  in  the  University  library  at 
Amsterdam,  among  which  is  a  work  in  two  volumes 
on  the  sound  system.1  Herman  Paul  says  that  Ten 
Kate  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Junius  and  Hickes. 
but  that  in  his  historical  researches  into  languages  he 
excelled  them  by  far,  and  that  among  all  the  scholars 
of  the  older  school  Ten  Kate  came  the  nearest  to  the 
point  of  view  of  Jacob  Grimm.2  For  etymology,  says 
Paul,  Ten  Kate  was  the  first  in  Europe  who  had  a  real 
scientific  foundation  for  his  researches.3 


1  See    Van    de    Aa.      Biographic    Dictionary    under    the    name    Ten 
Kate. 

2  Herman  Paul.     Grundriss  I,  35. 

3  Ibid.,    p.%  36. 


44  THE  DUTCH  SCHOOL 

And  last  but  not  least,  Balthazar  Huydecoper  was 
the  man  who  saw  even  at  the  early  period  in  which 
he  lived  the  importance  of  all  mediaeval  literature,  as 
a  consequence  of  the  historical  method  of  studying 
languages  which  had  grown  up  since  Junius.  To  that 
historical  research  of  languages  he  devoted  himself 
almost  entirely.  He  published  Vondel's  translation 
of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  with  manifold  linguistic 
notes  in  1730.  But  his  best  work  was  his  edition  of 
Melis  Stoke's  Rhyme  chronicle  of  Holland,  with  many 
historical,  archaeological  and  linguistic  notes,  in  three 
volumes,  1772.  This  was  the  first  edition  of  a  medi- 
aeval Dutch  work  with  critical  notes.  "By  these  two 
works,"  says  Dr.  Jonckbloet,  "Huydecoper  has  estab- 
lished an  unperishable  monument  of  his  merit."4 

• 

4  W.  J.  A.  Jonckbloet.     History  of  Dutch  Literature,  II,  309. 


CHAPTER   V      ; 

HOLLAND'S  SHARE  IN  THE  REVIVAL  OF  MEDIEVAL 
LITERATURE  DURING  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY, 
AS  THE  NATURAL  CONSEQUENCE  OF  THE  STUDY  OF 
COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY. 

The  great  movement  for  comparative  philology, 
started  by  Junius  and  continued  by  the  school  of  Ten 
Kate  and  Huydecoper,  did  not  remain  without  in- 
fluence on  the  important  results  in  the  field,  obtained 
by  the  famous  school  of  the  brothers  Jacob  and  Wil- 
helm  Grimm  during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  relationship  of  all  the  Germanic  lan- 
guages was  now  brought  under  the  dominion  of  as- 
sured rules ;  the  laws  were  discovered  according  to 
which  the  vowels  and  the  consonants  had  been  chang- 
ing in  the  different  languages,  since  in  the  course  of 
history  they  departed  from  the  original,  and  went 
their  own  way  from  dialects  to  separate  languages. 
The  study  of  comparative  philology  became  more 
scientific  and  more  systematic  than  ever  before,  and 
the  interest  in  the  literature  of  mediaeval  time  became 
greater  than  ever,  because  the  comparison  of  the 
modern  with  the  mediaeval  languages  was  the  most 
beautiful  field  for  the  application  and  further  affirma- 
tion of  the  newly  discovered  laws  of  etymology,  and 
for  the  thorough  knowledge  of  nearly  every  one  of  our 
modern  languages.  Huydecoper  saw  this  consequence, 
and  he  published  the  mediaeval  Chronicle  of  Melis 
Stoke;  the  German  school  followed  his  example  with 

45 


46          HOLLAND'S   SHARE   IN   THE   REVIVAL 

many  publications  of  the  kind  ;  and  a  new  Dutch  move- 
ment during  the  nineteenth  century  brought  to  light 
an  abundance  of  mediaeval  literature  to  which  at  first 
in  our  days  full  attention  has  begun  to  be  paid. 

At  the  same  time  this  study  of  mediaeval  literature 
showed  more  than  anything  before  how  central  and 
important  was  the  position  of  the  Netherlands,  even 
in  the  earliest  centuries  of  the  middle  ages. 

As  far  as  Germany  and  its  early  mediaeval  litera- 
ture is  concerned,  these  studies  showed  that  the  great 
hero  of  the  "Nibelungenlied,  so  often  called  the  Iliad 
of  the  Germans,  was  Siegfried,  a  Dutch  prince  from 
Santen  in  the  Southern  Netherlands,  although  it  may 
be  quite  true  as  Dr.  Jonckbloet  says  that  the  essential 
part  of  the  story  is  probably  much  older  than  the  set- 
tlement of  the  Franks  in  this  country.1 

The  same  study  of  mediaeval  literature  shows  that 
the  princess  Kudrun  of  the  Kudrun-story,  that  Odyssey 
of  Germany,  was  probably  as  Dr.  Jonckbloet  proves, 
although  others  may  try  to  deny  it,  a  Dutch  princess 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Antwerp ;  that  her  lover 
Herwig  was  a  prince  from  the  Dutch  province  of 
Zealand,  that  Moorland  is  Holland,  and  that  in  no 
way  can  a  clearer  explanation  be  given  of  the  story 
than  by  this  supposition,  as  many  names  in  the  story 
show.  The  scenery  of  Lohengrin,  the  famous  story 
of  Wagner's  grand  opera,  was  near  Antwerp,  on  the 
bank  of  the  Scheldt ;  Elsa  was  princess  of  Brabant 
and  the  horrible  Ortrud  was  a  daughter  of  the 
Frisian  king  Radboud.  The  same  studies  show  that 
the  author  of  the  Heliand,  the  great  Christian  epos  of 
Germany,  probably  was,  according  to  the  best  scholars, 
either  the  Dutch  missionary  Ludger  or  one  of  his 
pupils  who  wrote  at  his  suggestion.  From  these 

1  W.  J.  A.  Jonckbloet.     History  of  Dutch  Literature,   I,   19. 


HOLLAND'S   SHARE   IN   THE   REVIVAL         47 

studies  we  know  that  the  Dutch  nobleman  Henric  van 
Veldekc,  who  was  born  and  educated  in  the  province 
of  Limburg  in  the  Netherlands  was  the  founder  and 
the  leading  star  of  German  lyric  poetry,  whom  the 
great  German  poets  of  the  thirteenth  century  were 
anxious  to  follow. 

As  far  as  France  is  concerned  with  its  many 
mediaeval  romances  of  chivalry,  grouping  around  the 
Prankish  kings,  the  study  of  mediaeval  literature 
brought  to  light  that  the  scenery  of  many  of  those 
romances  is  to  be  found  in  the  Southern  Netherlands, 
and  that  several  of  the  authors  of  these  romances  even 
lived  in  the  Southern  Netherlands.  The  houses  of  the 
old  Prankish  kings  were  most  closely  connected  with 
this  country.  Peppin  of  Herstal  came  from  Herstal, 
a  place  in  the  Southern  Netherlands.  Charlemagne 
had  one  of  his  residences  at  Nimwegen.  The  beauti- 
ful "Ludwigs  lied"  sings  the  victory  of  Ludwig  the 
third  in  1881  near  Sancourt  in  the  Southern  Nether- 
lands gained  over  the  Northmen,  and  was  probably 
written  by  Huebald  from  the  monastery  of  St.  Amand 
near  Valenchijn  in  the  Southern  Netherlands.  In 
several  of  those  French  romances  we  find  true  descrip- 
tions of  nature  and  life  as  they  were  in  the  Southern 
Netherlands ;  so  in  the  romance  of  de  Raoul  de  Cam- 
brai ;  so  in  that  of  Renaud  of  Montalban ;  in  that  of 
Ogier  of  Ardennes,  in  the  romances  of  De  Garin  de 
Loharain  as  Dr.  Te  Winkel  shows  abundantly,1  while 
the  romance  of  Auberi  de  Bourgoing  describes  a  fight 
between  the  Flemings  and  the  Frisians.2  Some  of  the 
best  authors  of  those  French  romances  lived  in  the 
Southern  Netherlands.  So  for  instance  Chretien  de 
Troyes  lived  for  a  time  at  the  court  of  Flanders.3 

1  Dr.  J.  te  Winkel,  Jacob  ran  Maerlaht,  p.  7. 

2  Prof.  G.  Kalff,  History  of  Dutch  Literature,  I,  p.  95. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  85. 


48         HOLLAND'S   SHARE   IN   THE   REVIVAL 

Adam  de  la  Halle  and  Jean  Boclel  lived  at  Atrecht.1 
Of  some  other  French  romances  there  are  quite  inde- 
pendent conceptions  in  mediaeval  Dutch,  as  for  instance 
the  Dutch  version  of  Karel  and  Elegast,  while  the 
Dutch  version  of  the  Aiol  has  more  than  four  hundred 
lines  not  to  be  found  in  the  French  original;  the 
Dutch  version  of  the  famous  animal  epos  Reinard  is 
generally  recognized  as  a  quite  independent  concep- 
tion, and  on  account  of  this  beautiful  conception,  as 
the  best  animal  epos  in  the  world,  while  in  the  romance 
of  the  Swan,  the  main  idea  is  that  the  dukes  of 
Brabant  were  of  a  miraculous,  heavenly  descent.2 

The  literature  of  England  during  the  three  first 
centuries,  after  the  Norman  conquest  in  1066,  was 
nearly  the  same  as  that  of  France.  From  the  conquest 
in  1066  till  the  recognition  of  the  remodelled  English 
language  with  its  many  French  elements  in  the  law 
courts  in  1362,  and  in  the  schools  in  1386,  the 
predominant  language  in  England  was  French ;  the 
romances,  even  those  on  old  Celtic  subjects,  as  the 
Arthur  romances,  were  written  and  read  in  the  French 
language,  and  composed  for  a  considerable  part  in  the 
Southern  Netherlands,  as  for  instance  the  first  French 
Arthur  romance,  Le  conte  del  GraaL,  was  written  by 
Chretien  de  Troyes,  who  was  living  at  the  Flemish 
court  about  the  year  1175. 

Of  such  a  kind  were  the  connections  of  the  Neth- 
erlands with  the  early  mediaeval  literature  of  Germany, 
France  and  England. 

Was  it  remarkable  that  Dutch  scholars  of  the 
nineteenth  century  felt  themselves  attracted  to  the 
study  of  mediaeval  literature,  with  which  their  own 
country  was  so  closely  connected,  and  the  study  of 

ilbid.' 

2  Jonckbloet,  I,  21. 


HOLLAND'S  SHARE  IN   THE   REVIVAL         49 

which  was  to  such  a  large  extent  prepared  for  by 
their  own  compatriots  from  the  time  of  Junius  till 
their  own? 

The  great  work  of  Junius,  and  of  the  school  of 
Ten  Kate  and  Huydecoper,  kept  alive  the  movement 
in  the  Netherlands  all  the  time.  Soon  after  the  pub- 
lishing of  Melis  Stoke's  Rhyme  chronicle  by  Huyde- 
coper in  1772,  the  works  of  Jacob  van  Maerlant,  the 
great  master  of  mediaeval  Dutch  language  and  litera- 
ture, attracted  the  attention  of  the  best  scholars.  Now 
everybody  can  easily  understand  why  the  publishing 
of  Maerlant's  works  was  not  completed  in  one  year, 
or  even  in  a  few  years,  as  they  contain  not  less  than 
one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand  lines,  a  quan- 
tity of  which  one  hardly  gets  an  idea  by  comparison 
for  instance  with  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  which  cer- 
tainly is  a  long  poem  but  nevertheless  contains  not 
more  than-  eleven  thousand  lines.  Only  twelve  years 
after  Huydecoper  published  Melis  Stoke's  Rhyme 
chronicle,  the  first  volume  of  Maerlant's  Spieghel  His- 
toricel,  his  great  work  on  the  world's  history,  was 
printed  in  the  year  1784  by  the  care  of  Dr.  J.  A. 
Clignett.1  Since  that  year  1784,  when  the  first  work 
of  Maerlant  was  printed,  the  studies  on  Maerlant, 
the  printing  of  his  works,  the  discovery  and  collection 
of  all  his  manuscripts  was  in  progress  for  more  than  a 
century,  till  in  the  year  1891  the  last  volume  was  pub- 
lished, and  his  complete  works  were  put  at  the  dis- 
posal of  every  student  of  mediaeval  literature.  Of  the 
Spieghel  Historical,  in  the  meantime,  a  second  and 
beautiful  edition  was  published  during  the  years  1857- 
1863  by  the  care  of  Prof.  M.  de  Vries  and  his  oldest 
pupil  E.  Verwijs.  A  great  number  of  Dutch  scholars 
had  cooperated  during  these  hundred  years,  not  only 

1  J.  te  Winkel,  Jacob  van  Maerlant,  p.  518. 
4 


50         HOLLAND'S   SHARE   IN   THE   REVIVAL 

in  publishing  the  works  of  Maerlant,  but  in  studying 
the  history  of  mediaeval  literature  in  connection  with 
the  comparative  philology.  Willem  Bilderdijk  (1756- 
1831),  the  great  Dutch  poet  and  scnolar,  Dr.  J.  H. 
Halbertsma,  Dr.  Hendrik  van  Wijn,  the  father  of  the 
History  of  Dutch  literature,  W.  C.  Ackersdijk,  A.  C. 
W.  Staring,  M.  Siegenbeek,  C.  J.  Meyer,  L.  Ph.  van 
den  Bergh  and  J.  Clarisse,  assisted  by  some  German 
philologists  as  Hoffman  von  Fallersleben,  F.  J.  Monen, 
E.  Kansler  and  L.  Tross,  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
Huydencoper  and  Clignett  in  close  connection  with, 
and  profiting  by,  the  beautiful  results  of  the  school  of 
Jacob  and  Wilhelm  Grimm.1  To  describe  the  services 
rendered  by  all  these  men  would  make  this  chapter 
too  elaborate,  but  the  work  of  at  least  one  man  may  be 
especially  mentioned  here,  viz.,  that  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Jonck- 
bloet.  His  work  on  the  history  of  Dutch  literature 
assures  him  forever  of  a  prominent  place  among 
Dutch  philologists,  but  it  was  his  famous  work  on  the 
History  of  Mediaeval  Literature  that  especially  gave 
him  an  European  fame,  and  made  his  name  immortal 
for  all  students  of  mediaeval  literature.  This  history 
is  still  considered  one  of  the  great  works  of  reference 
on  the  subject.2 

1  J.   te  Winkel,  Jacob  ran  Maerlant,  p.  498-526. 

2  W.  J.   A.  Jonckbloet,   Geschiedenis  der  Middelnederlandsche  Dicht- 
kunst,    1854. 


CHAPTER   VI 

RESULTS  OF  THE  STUDY  OF  COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY 
AND  OF  MEDIEVAL  LITERATURE  FOR  THE  STUDY 
OF  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE. 

After  having  mentioned  the  importance  of  the  study 
of  comparative  philology  especially  for  a  knowledge 
of  the  English  language  (i),  the  general  results  of 
comparative  philology  (2),  and  the  share  which  Hol- 
land had  in  its  inception  (3),  in  its  further  develop- 
ment (4),  and  consequently  in  the  study  of  mediaeval 
literature  the  only  thing  still  to  be  done  in  this  short 
review  is  to  mention  in  a  few  words  (5),  the  results 
of  the  study  of  comparative  philology  and  of  mediaeval 
literature  for  the  knowledge  of  English  language  and 
literature. 

Whoever  studies  even  the  works  of  W.  W.  Skeat 
alone,  and  especially  his  Etymological  Dictionary  of 
the  English  Language,  may  notice  the  importance  of 
these  results  in  a  very  short  time.  With  the  utmost 
care,  the  origin  of  every  word  has  now  been  traced 
as  far  as  possible ;  all  the  different  parts  of  the  great 
mixture,  which  is  called  the  English  language,  have 
been  isolated,  every  point  of  the  English  grammar  has 
been  investigated,  the  whole  history  and  all  the  changes 
of  this  language  have  been  discovered.  The  results 
are  marvelous  indeed,  more  than  for  any  other  lan- 
guage because  no  other  language  is  such  a 
mixture  of  different  elements.  Not  less  are  the 
results  for  the  knowledge  of  English  literature. 

51 


52        RESULTS  OF  COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY 

Scholars  of  several  nations  when  once  they  had 
been  attracted  and  absorbed  by  the  wonderful  charms 
of  comparative  philology,  studied  not  only  their 
own  national  literature,  and  language,  but  they  found 
interesting  sources  for  research  in  the  literature  of  all 
those  languages  of  which  the  mutual  relationship  was 
discovered.  This  was  a  consequence  of  the  idea  itself 
of  comparative  philology,  which  meant  to  compare  the 
different  languages  as  found  in  the  literature  of  many 
nations.  So  for  instance  a  man  like  Franciscus  Junius 
published  not  only  the  Gothic,  but  at  the  same  time  the 
Anglo-Saxon,  version  of  the  Gospels,  and  his  tran- 
scripts of  many  Anglo-Saxon  manuscripts  have  been 
the  subject  of  a  special  essay  by  Dr.  Logeman.  Not 
less  was  Junius'  work  in  publishing  Caedmon's  Para- 
phrase, an  immediate  consequence  of  his  researches  in 
the  field  of  comparative  philology.  From  these  few 
examples  one  sees  how  this  science  influences  the 
development  of  the  study  of  English  language  and 
literature.  Only  the  development  of  comparative  phi- 
lology has  made  it  possible  to  study  the  influence  of 
one  nation  on  the  language  and  the  literature  of  an- 
other, as  that  of  Holland  on  the  English  language  and 
literature,  to  distinguish  the  different  elements  of  a 
language,  which,  like  the  English  has  been  mixed 
during  many  centuries  with  elements  from  many  dif- 
ferent sources ;  to  trace  the  origin  and  genesis  of  every 
piece  of  literature  and  the  influences  that  have  inspired 
their  respective  authors.  It  is  in  this  whole  movement 
in  which,  as  I  showed,  Holland  had  such  a  remarkable 
share,  that  from  the  time  of  Junius  till  our  present 
day  the  numerous  monographs,  essays,  pamphlets  and 
articles  in  periodicals  have  been  published,  which  now 
taken  together  furnish  the  material  for  a  general 
glance  over  the  whole  field  and  for  finding  out,  for 


RESULTS  OF  COMPARATIVE  PHILOLOGY       53 

instance,  what  influence  England  exerted  on  the  litera- 
ture and  language  of  other  nations,  as  well  as  that 
which  other  nations  exerted  on  the  English  language 
and  literature.  It  is  by  collecting  this  scattered  mate- 
rial that  I  will  try  to  recapitulate  the  results  of  men 
like  Skeat  and  De  Hoog,  and  in  continuing  the  epoch- 
making  work  of  such  men,  to  bring  to  the  attention 
of  the  English-speaking  people  the  influence  of  Hol- 
land on  English  language  and  literature  as  set  forth 
in  a  concise  form  in  the  following  pages. 


PART  II 

Holland's  Influence  on  the  English 
Language 


CHAPTER    VII 

THE  CLOSE  RELATIONSHIP  BETWEEN  THE  DUTCH  AND 
THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGES 

According  to  the  genealogy  of  the  Indo-Germanic 
languages  as  given  in  our  sketch  in  the  second  chap- 
ter of  the  first  Part,  the  Dutch  and  the  English 
languages  are  seen  to  be  most  closely  related  to  each 
other.  They  are  as  closely  related  to  each  other  as 
two  sisters  in  the  genealogy  of  a  large  family  and 
more  closely  related  than  even  Dutch  and  modern 
German.  "Although  the  pronunciation  may  differ 
very  much,"  says  De  Hoog,  "there  is  a  greater  simi- 
larity in  words  between  the  English  and  the  Dutch 
even  than  between  the  Dutch  and  the  German."1  The 
vulgar  idea  that  the  Dutch  language  is  pretty  nearly 
the  same  as  the  German,  and  that  English  and  Dutch 
differ  much  more  than  German  and  Dutch,  is  good 
enough  for  those  people  who  know  these  languages 
only  by  conversation  but  it  cannot  find  favor  with 
better  informed  philologists.  The  philologist  knows 
that  in  the  early  middle  ages  Dutch  and  English  were 

1  W.  de  Hoog,  Studien,  First  edition,  I,  p.  63;  Second  edition, 
I»  P-  153-  This  author  does  not  hesitate  to  make  the  statement  that  "we 
may  freely  say  that  of  all  the  foreign  languages  none  has  so  much 
similarity  with  the  Dutch  as  the  English,"  I,  154. 

55 


56  THE   CLOSE   RELATIONSHIP 

much  more  alike  than  at  present ;  that  therein  lies  the 
reason  why  missionaries  from  the  British  isles  could 
make  themselves  understood  very  easily  among  the 
tribes  of  the  Low  Countries;  that  even  the  language 
of  Chaucer  still  shows  a  surprising  similarity  to  the 
Dutch,  and  that  still  in  the  year  1600  a  man  like  the 
great  historian  Van  Meteren,  during  the  glorious  time 
of  the  Netherlands,  when  England  was  far  behind  in 
civilization,  could  call  the  English  language  "only  a 
broken  Dutch."1 

The  reason,  however,  why  this  close  relationship 
between  the  English  and  the  Dutch  is  not  observed  at 
first  sight,  is  not  only  the  difference  in  pronunciation, 
but  the  difference  in  the  way  in  which  the  words  in 
both  languages  are  written. 

But  the  main  difference  between  Dutch  and  Eng- 
lish is  in  the  arrangement  of  words,  and  in  the  use  of 
prepositions  and  conjunctions.2 

And  last  but  not  least,  since  the  predominance  of 
the  French  language  in  England  during  more  than 
three  hundred  years,  from  1066  till  1400,  the  English 
has  been  mixed  with  such  an  overwhelming  element 
of  French  words,  and  French  expressions,  that  this 
makes  the  similarity  of  the  original  and  pure  English, 
to  the  Dutch  still  more  obscure  to  the  common  reader. 

Nevertheless,  to  be  convinced  of  the  close  relation- 
ship, says  de  Hoog,3  it  may  suffice  'to  look  through  any 
dictionary  to  find  a  list  of  words  like  this: 

Eng.  anchor,  Dutch  anker;  cf.  ankle,  enkel;  apple, 
appel ;  ash,  asch ;  beacon,  baken ;  bean,  boon ;  bear, 
beer;  beard,  baard;  beast,  beest;  bed,  bed;  beech, 

1  Van   Meteren,  Historic,  I,  489. 

2  De  Hoog,   Second  edition,  I,   175. 

3  Ibid,   First  edition,  I,  63.     In  his  second  edition  the  author  gives 
this  list  only  till  the  word  ewe,  supposing  that  everybody  easily  can  make 
a  similar  list.     This  is  certainly  true,  but  most  readers  will  not  do  it  and 
yet  will  find  an  interest  in  looking  through  his  list.. 


THE   CLOSE  RELATIONSHIP  57 

beuk;  begin,  beginnen;  bell,  bel;  bind,  binden;  bitter, 
bitter;  bleat,  blaten;  blind,  blind;  block,  blok;  blood, 
bloed ;  blossom,  bloesem  ;  blue,  blauw  ;  bosom,  boezem ; 
bottom,  bodem ;  break,  breken ;  bread,  brood ;  breast, 
borst ;  breed,  broeden ;  bride,  bruid ;  bridge,  grug ; 
bridle,  breidel ;  bring,  brengen ;  broad,  breed ;  breadth, 
breedte;  brother,  breeder;  brown,  bruin;  buckwheat, 
boekweit ;  busy,  bezig ;  butter,  boter ;  to  clatter, 
klateren;  clay,  klei;  clear,  klaar;  clock,  klok;  dance, 
dansen ;  daughter,  dochter ;  dead,  dood ;  deaf,  doof ; 
dear,  duur;  dearth,  duurte;  deed,  daad;  deep,  diep; 
devil,  duivel;  dike,  dijk;  door,  deur;  dough,  deeg; 
dove,  duif;  dream,  droomen;  drench,  drenken;  drink, 
drinken;  earnest,  ernstig;  ear,  oor;  earth,  aarde;  eat, 
eten;  east,  oost;  elm,  olm;  etch,  etsen;  evil,  euvel; 
ewe,  ooi ;  give,  geven ;  glass,  glas ;  grave,  graf ;  great, 
groot;  greet,  groeten;  green,  groen;  guess,  gissen; 
guest,  gast;  hail,  hagel;  hair,  haar;  hammer,  hamer; 
haste,  haast ;  haven,  haven ;  heap,  hoop  ;  hear,  hooren  ; 
heart,  hart;  hedge,  hegge;  heed,  hoede;  heel,  hiel; 
hell,  hel;  helm,  helm;  help,  helpen;  herring,  haring; 
hide,  huid ;  hind,  hinde ;  hire,  huren ;  honey,  honig ; 
hope,  hoop;  hot,  heet;  house,  huis;  howl,  huilen; 
hunger,  honger ;  kiss,  kussen ;  knead,  kneden ;  knee, 
knie ;  kneel,  knielen  ;  ladder,  ladder ;  lade,  laden ;  lamb, 
lam ;  lamp,  lamp ;  land,  land ;  lane,  laan ;  last,  leest ; 
late,  laat ;  lead,  leiden ;  lead,  lood ;  leak,  lekken ;  light, 
licht ;  lisp,  lispelen ;  little,  luttel ;  live,  leven ;  liver, 
lever ;  loan,  leen ;  long,  lang ;  length,  lengte  ;  loose,  los ; 
make,  maken ;  market,  markt ;  mew,  meeuw ;  might, 
macht ;  mildew,  meeldauw ;  mill,  molen ;  monk, 
monnik ;  mouse,  muis ;  mustard,  mosterd  ;  nail,  nagel ; 
naked,  naakt ;  name,  naam ;  neck,  neck ;  need,  nood ; 
needle,  naald;  nettle,  netel;  night,  nacht;  nightingale, 
nachtegaal ;  north,  noord ;  oven,  oven ;  oak,  eik ;  open, 
open ;  oyster,  oester ;  plank,  plank ;  plant,  plant ; 
plaster,  pleister ;  plough,  ploeg ;  prince,  prins ;  quarter, 
kwartier;  radish,  radijs;  raven,  raaf ;  reckon,  rekenen ; 
reed,  riet;  rich,  rijk;  ring,  ring;  rose,  roos;  sand, 
zand ;  saw,  zaag ;  singe,  sengen ;  sink,  zinken ;  sister, 
zuster ;  sit,  zitten ;  sketch,  schets ;  slave,  slaaf ;  sluice, 
sluis ;  smear,  smeren ;  smith,  smid ;  snow,  sneeuw ; 


58  THE   CLOSE  RELATIONSHIP 

soap,  zeep;  sole,  zool;  son,  zoon;  soul,  ziel;  soup, 
soep ;  sour,  zuur ;  south,  zuid ;  spade,  spade ;  spare, 
sparen,  spear,  speer;  speed,  spoed;  split,  splijten; 
spring1,  springen ;  spread,  spreiden ;  sprout,  spruiten ; 
staff,  staf;  star,  ster;  starve,  sterven;  state,  staat; 
still,  stil ;  stink,  stinken ;  stone,  steen ;  storm,  storm ; 
strand,  strand ;  straw,  stroo ;  stream,  stroom ;  street, 
straat ;  strive,  streven ;  study,  studie ;  swallow,  zwaluw  ; 
swarm,  zwenn;  swear,  zweren;  sweat,  zweten;  swell, 
zwellen ;  swim,  zwemmen ;  swine,  zwijn  ;  table,  tafel ; 
tame,  tarn ;  tea,  thee ;  thank,  bedanken ;  thing,  ding ; 
token,  teeken ;  tongue,  tong ;  tread,  treden ;  tumble, 
tuimelen  ;  wade,  waden ;  wain,  wagen ;  warm,  warm  ; 
wash,  wasschen ;  water,  water ;  wax,  wassen ;  wealth, 
weelde;  weapon,  wapen;  weasel,  wezel;  weather, 
weder;  weave,  weven;  week,  week;  weigh,  wegen; 
weigh,  gewicht ;  welcome,  welkom ;  what,  wat ;  wild, 
wild;  will,  wil;  willow,  wilg;  woe,  wee;  wolf,  wolf; 
wonder,  wonder ;  work,  work ;  world,  wereld ;  worm, 
worm ;  wring,  wringen. 

Not  only  the  resemblance  of  a  great  number  of 
words,  but  a  comparison  of  the  English  and  Dutch 
grammars  and  of  both  with  the  Gothic,  shows  that  the 
whole  structure  and  foundation  of  English  and  Dutch 
are  the  same.  The  regularity  with  which  differences 
in  vowels  and  consonants  occur  between  English  and 
Dutch  words,  shows  their  original  similarity,  while 
the  different  way  in  which  they  are  written  today  finds 
its  cause  in  a  difference  of  pronunciation.  So  great 
is  this  regularity  that  long  since  a  great  number  of 
rules  have  been  discovered  according  to  which  these 
differences  in  vowels  and  consonants  have  been 
brought  about.  Is  a  verb  strong  in  its  conjugation  in 
Dutch,  it  is  also  strong  in  English ;  is  it  weak  in 
Dutch,  it  is  also  weak  in  English.  And  for  the  phi- 
lologist, who  is  able  to  separate  all  the  foreign  ele- 
ments, and  to  discover  the  original  language  of  the 
Saxons  who  crossed  the  Channel,  later  called  Anglo- 


THE   CLOSE   RELATIONSHIP  59 

Saxons,  and  the  language  of  the  Saxons  who  remained 
on  the  Continent  and  mixed  with  other  Low  Germanic 
tribes  like  the  Frisians  and  the  Franks,  and  formed 
the  Dutch  nation — for  the  philologist  who  studies  both 
languages  in  their  growth  through  so  many  centuries, 
English  and  Dutch  appear  clearly  to  be  two  sisters  in 
the  great  family  of  the  Indo-Germanic  languages. 
To  explain  this  more  elaborately  would  lead  us  too 
far  away  from  the  main  idea  of  this  work,  and  it  may 
suffice  for  more  particulars  to  refer  to  such  books  as 
those  of  W.  Skeat  and  W.  de  Hoog. 

But  another  question  which  really  belongs  here  is 
this:  How  can  two  languages  which  in  their  origin 
are  like  two  sisters  of  one  family,  have  exerted  so 
much  influence  one  on  the  other  as  to  furnish  each 
other  with  many  words,  and  with  words,  which  really 
are  not  foreign  words  to  both,  but  belong  indeed  to 
one  of  them  and  are  borrowed  by  the  other?  How 
could  the  English  people  borrow  words  from  the 
Dutch;  words  which  are  really  Dutch  and  not  bor- 
rowed by  the  Dutch  themselves  from  French  or 
German  or  from  any  other  language,  if  we  presume 
that  both  the  English  and  the  Dutch  nations  sprang 
from  tribes  which  spoke  the  same  dialects  or  lan- 
guages? This  question  is  answered  in  the  best  way 
when  we  hold  for  a  moment  to  the  comparison  of 
the  two  sisters.  If,  in  one  and  the  same  family,  there 
are  two  sisters  who  have  received  a  very  different 
education,  then,  although  they  speak  the  same  lan- 
guage, the  one,  who  developed  more  rapidly  and  got 
a  broader  knowledge  of  many  things,  will  at  last 
have  a  much  larger  and  richer  vocabulary  than  the 
other  who  secured  only  a  poor  education  and  a  very 
limited  knowledge.  In  the  same  way  it  was  possible 
that  the  Dutch,  who  during  several  centuries  had  a: 


60  THE   CLOSE  RELATIONSHIP 

regular,  a  never  interrupted,  and  splendid  develop- 
ment, in  accordance  with  it  acquired  a  large  vocab- 
ulary, while  the  English  during  the  same  time  only 
followed  from  afar.  On  the  contrary,  when  during 
the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  the  English 
nation  developed  enormously,  while  the  Dutch  was 
declining,  it  is  very  probable  that  during  this  time  the 
English  will  gain  the  supremacy,  will  develop  a  rich 
vocabulary,  while  the  Dutch  become  the  people  that 
follow  and  borrow  names  and  new  words  for  new 
things  which  were  introduced  from  England. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

WHY  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  ENGLAND  ON  DUTCH  LAN- 
GUAGE AND  LITERATURE  is  OF  RECENT  DATE, 
WHILE  THAT  OF  HOLLAND  ON  ENGLISH  LAN- 
GUAGE AND  LITERATURE  OCCURRED  MUCH  EARLIER 
AND  DURING  SEVERAL  CENTURIES. 

Although  not  included  necessarily  in  the  plan  of 
this  little  volume,  yet  a  few  words  about  the  influence 
of  England  on  Holland,  and  its  language  and  litera- 
ture, may  find  here  a  place,  since  some  one  who  reads 
these  pages  may  ask  the  question:  Was  not  the  in- 
fluence of  Holland  on  England  a  mutual  one,  and  did 
not  England  exert  as  much  influence  on  Holland 
as  the  latter  did  on  the  former  ?  This  question  may  be 
not  a  necessary  one,  it  is  nevertheless  so  closely  con- 
nected with  our  subject  that  a  few  words  of  explana- 
tion may  not  be  superfluous.  It  is  interesting,  any- 
how, in  connection  with  our  subject  to  keep  in  mind  at 
least  a  general  outline  of  the  whole  relation  through 
history  between  the  two  countries.  Now  this  is  in  the 
main  dominated  by  three  circumstances: 

1.  The  course  of  general  civilization  from  east  to 
west ; 

2.  The    peculiar    development    of   civilization    in 
England  which  was  interrupted  by  several  conquests ; 
and 

3.  The  regular  development  of  the  Netherlands  as 
a  world-center  of  civilization  some  centuries  earlier 
than  the  development  of  England  as  a  world-empire. 

61 


62  HOLLAND  AND  ENGLAND 

In  the  explanation  and  interpretation  of  these  three 
observations  we  find  the  history  of  the  relations  be- 
tween Holland  and  England. 

I.  Civilization  took  its  course  from  East  to  West. 
It  is  generally  accepted  that  in  Asia  is  to  be  found 
the  cradle  of  the  human  race.     From  Asia  came  the 
tribes  which  spread  over  Europe.     From  the  eastern 
empires  of  Babylon,  Assyria,  Egypt,  Persia  and  Pales- 
tine, civilization  came  to  the  shores  of  Europe.     At 
first  Greece,  later  the  Roman  empire,  became  the  cen- 
ter of  civilization  in  Europe,  and  from  Greece  and 
Rome  it  spread  over  the  western  countries  of  Europe 
under  the  leadership  of  the  mediaeval  Christian  church. 
So  Christian  civilization  soon  reached  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic,  came  to  the  Netherlands,  and  crossed  the 
Channel  to  the  British  Isles,  after  the  way  had  been 
prepared  by  the  armies  of  heathen  Rome.     Holland 
was  part  of  the  European  Continent,  was  most  closely 
in  contact  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  became  speedily 
the  center  of  trade  between  the  Baltic  and  the  Medi- 
terranean, between  the  heart  of  Germany  and  Eng- 
land.    But  England  had  a  more  isolated  position,  was 
not  so  closely  connected  with  all  Europe,  and  had  not 
that  central  position  which  was  the  privilege  of  Hol- 
land.   So  the  Netherlands  and  especially  the  Southern 
Provinces  soon  became  a  center  of  trade  and  industry, 
of  art  and  literature  and  of  all  civilization,  while  the 
development  of  civilization  in  England  remained  far 
behind. 

II.  To  this  course,  taken  by  the  history  of  civiliza- 
tion, must  be  added  the  circumstance  that  the  develop- 
ment of  civilization  in  England  had  been  interrupted 
several  times  by  the   most  awful   conquests,  accom- 
panied by   wholesale   devastations   of  every  previous 
civilization.    England  has  been  conquered,  first  by  the 


HOLLAND  AND   ENGLAND  63 

Ramans,  then  by  the  Angles  and  Saxons,  later  by  the 
Danes,  after  that  time  by  William  the  Conqueror  with 
his  Normans,  and  especially  the  last  conquest,  and  in 
connection  with  it  the  dreadful  wars  with  France, 
followed  by  the  war  of  the  Roses,  have  exerted  an  in- 
fluence on  the  civilization  in  England,  which  finally 
left  that  country  during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
century  in  a  condition  far  behind  the  civilization  of 
some  other  parts  of  Europe,  especially  of  the  southern 
Netherlands.  All  these  conquests,  most  of  them  de- 
pressing and  influencing  the  whole  people  for  a  long 
time,  and  accompanied  as  they  were  by  murder  and 
devastation,  by  robbery  and  oppression, .have  together 
brought  a  rough,  as  well  as  a  dramatic  element,  into 
English  national  life,  a  life  which  was  full  of  tragic 
stories,  noble  fights  and  criminal  performances.  This 
may  to  a  certain  extent  explain  the  early  development 
of  English  literature,  and  especially  of  the  drama,  at 
a  time  when  the  general  standard  of  civilization  was 
still  very  low.  In  the  dramas  of  Shakespeare  we  see 
the  results  of  the  whole  history  of  England  till  that 
time;  a  true  mirror  of  all  its  great  events,  all  its 
energy,  all  its  crimes,  all  its  activity,  all  its  sufferings, 
as  well  as  of  all  its  display  of  brute  power  and  rough- 
ness. This  peculiarly  rough,  but  powerful,  individ- 
ualism, full  of  energy  and  activity  was  able  to  produce 
exceptions  like  Shakespeare,  Marlowe  and  Spenser,  in 
a  time  when  the  general  standard  of  English  national 
life  was  very  low  indeed.  This  is  surprising,  and  to 
be  explained  only  by  the  conquests  of  the  island  and  the 
nearly  perpetual  oppression  of  a  large  part  of  the  Eng- 
lish people.  Even  at  the  present  time,  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  world-power  and  wealth  of  England,  it  has 
as  its  "poet  laureate"  no  better  man  than  Robert 
Bridges;  as  its  history  of  English  literature  no  better 


64  HOLLAND  AND   ENGLAND 

work  than  that  of  the  Frenchman  Taine;  as  its  best 
painter  no  better  man  than  Alma  Tadema,  a  Dutch- 
man by  birth  and  education ;  while  in  winning  Nobel 
prizes  it  remains  far  behind  the  Netherlands  of  today ; 
and  in  preserving  mediaeval  feudalism  even  in  its 
institutions  of  learning,  it  is  more  conservative  than 
almost  any  other  country  in  the  world.  Yet  in  our 
time  the  general  standard  of  national  life  in  no  other 
country  is  as  high  as  in  England.  When  in  our  days 
we  look  at  the  splendor  and  the  wealth  of  the  British 
empire,  with  its  overwhelming  position,  and  compare 
with  it  the  modest  position  of  the  kingdom  of  Holland, 
we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  such  may  have  been 
always  the  situation  and  we  hardly  imagine  how  en- 
tirely different  it  was  some  centuries  ago.  But  as  far 
as  we  are  not  blinded  by  the  present  situation,  and 
ask  just  for  the 'truth  of  history,  we  learn  that  some 
centuries  ago,  not  England,  but  the  Netherlands  were 
far  ahead  in  general  civilization,  and  in  national  stand- 
ard of  life,  and  we  find  the  cause  of  the  backwardness 
of  English  national  life  in  the  many  conquests,  and 
nearly  perpetual  oppression  of  the  people  in  English 
History. 

III.  On  the  contrary  the  national  life  in  the 
Netherlands  since  the  crusades  developed  very  fast  and 
regularly.  Modern  democracy  arose  in  the  cities  of 
Flanders  sooner,  and  more  splendidly,  than  in  any 
other  country  in  the  world.  Charles  V  (1500-1558) 
himself  born  at  Bruges  in  the  same  Southern  Nether- 
lands, where  once,  at  Herstal,  stood  the  cradle  of 
the  great  Carolingians — Charles  V,  the  Emperor  of 
Germany,  the  King  of  Spain,  the  Lord  of  the  Nether- 
lands, on  whose  empire  the  sun  did  not  set,  the  man 
of  the  world-empire  of  his  time,  got  two-fifths  of  all 
his  income  from  the  Netherlands,  where  learning  and 


HOLLAND   AND   ENGLAND  65 

civilization  had  their  headquarters,  where  luxury  and 
wealth  was  accumulated  by  trade  and  industry.  And 
at  the  same  time  England  under  the  Tudors  was  so 
far  behind  in  national  civilization,  that  we  are  aston- 
ished when  reading  what  the  best  historians  tell  us 
about  it.  At  the  time  when  Elizabeth  (i  55^-1603 ), 
"the  good  queen  Beth,"  came  to  the  throne,  England's 
trade  was  little,  and  its  industry  did  not  amount  to 
anything;  the  best  citizens  were  put  to  death,  or  fled 
from  the  country  to  escape  the  persecutions  of  Bloody 
Mary ;  most  of  the  land  belonged  to  the  lords  of  the 
castles,  and  nearly. all  the  revenues  of  the  country  had 
to  come  from  the  wool  it  produced,  as  being  in  the 
main  a  pastoral  land,  so  that  the  "woolsac"  is  even 
today  taken  for  the  symbol  of  the  origin  of  England's 
wealth. 

At  this  time,  when  in  the  Netherlands,  according 
to  the  Italian  historian  Guiciardini,  everybody  knew 
how  to  write,  and  to  read,  in  England  many  even  of 
the  Peers  of  the  land  could  neither  write  nor  read. 

At  a  time  when  in  the  Netherlands,  in  one  city 
(Antwerp),  five  hundred  marble  palaces  of  the  wealthy 
merchants  were  destroyed  by  one  conquest,  and  the 
ladies  dressed  like  princesses,  so  that  the  French  queen 
one  time  in  the  year  1301  at  a  banquet  at  Brughes 
exclaimed:  "I  thought  that  I  was  the  only  queen 
here,  but  I  see  that  all  ladies  are  queens,"1 — at  that 
time  and  even  two  centuries  later  the  houses  of  the 
upper  classes  in  England  were  described  by  Erasmus 
(otherwise  full  of  admiration  for  the  English  people) 
in  these  words:  "The  floors  are  commonly  of  clay, 
strewed  with  rushes,  which  are  only  lifted  at  long 

1  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  Textbook  of  Dutch  History,  p.  17. 
Incredible,  says  Groen,  was  the  welfare  of  the  Flemish  cities  Ghent, 
Ypres  and  Brughes.  Ghent  alone  had  80,000  citizens  able  to  go  to 
war.  This  was  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries. 


66  HOLLAND  AND   ENGLAND 

intervals,  and  under  which  lies  unmolested,  an  ancient 
collection  of  beer,  grease,  bones,  spittle  and  every 
nameless  abomination.1  In  Skikton  Castle,  belonging 
to  the  earl  of  Cumberland,  and  built  in  the  year  1572, 
as  one  of  the  most  splendid  castles  of  Northern  Eng- 
land according  to  Hallam  "none  of  the  chambers  had 
chairs,  window  glass  or  carpets."2  Even  Queen  Eliza- 
beth did  not  know  the  use  of  the  fork  and  ate  her  meat 
with  her  fingers ;  her  perpetual  habit  of  swearing  like 
a  common  soldier  everybody  knows;  and  historians 
like  Froude  and  Hallam  tell  us  that  the  standard  of 
morality  at  that  time  in  England  was  not  higher  than 
the  standard  of  elegance  in  English  homes,  and  in  the 
English  way  of  living.  No  wonder  that  a  good  many 
of  the  English  soldiers,  who  at  that  time  came  to  the 
Netherlands,  were  looked  at  like  "half  naked  bar- 
barians," worse  than  even  the  Spaniards  in  roughness 
and  cruelty. 

The  Dutch  skilled  laborers  and  farmers,  who  set- 
tled in  England's  eastern  and  south-eastern  districts, 
found  there  easily  a  living,  while  on  the  contrary  the 
Pilgrim  fathers  at  Leyden  could  hardly  make  a  living, 
because  their  standard  of  education  and  skill  was  lower 
than  that  of  their  Dutch  competitors. 

The  simple  historical  truth  is,  that  at  that  period 
the  undeveloped  energy  of  the  English  people  was 
still  waiting  for  the  time  of  its  glorious  unfolding, 
and  that,  notwithstanding  the  exceptional  examples  of 
Spenser,  Shakespeare  and  some  other  individuals,  the 
general  standard  of  English  civilization  was  very  low, 
while  at  the  same  time  that  of  the  Netherlands  was 
ahead  of  all  Europe. 

1  Marcus  Dods,  Erasmus  and  other  Essays,  p.  13.     Other  descriptions 
of  English  houses  in  Douglas  Campbell,  The  Puritans,  I,  326,  v.  v.  and 
the  authors  quoted  there. 

2  Hallam,  Middle  Ages,  quoted  by  Campbell,  I,  327. 


HOLLAND  AND   ENGLAND  67 

The  glorious  time  for  England,  as  a  whole,  came 
in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries.  That  of 
the  Netherlands  was  in  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries.  It  is  not  in  the 
least  in  favor  of  the  Netherlands,  neither  a  disgrace 
to  England,  but  merely  a  chronological  fact,  that  the 
development  of  civilization,  of  wealth,  and  power  in 
the  Netherlands  came  some  centuries  earlier  than  in 
England.  But  the  consequence  of  this  historical  fact 
is,  that  during  the  centuries  of  higher  civilization, 
Holland  exerted  permanently  its  influence  on  England, 
on  English  language  and  literature;  and,  on  the  con- 
trary, that  the  time  in  which  England  exerted  some 
considerable  influence  on  Holland  is  to  be  sought 
especially  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries, 
and  in  our  present  time. 

Nearly  all  the  words  of  English  origin  in  the 
Dutch  language  are  of  very  recent  date,  and  never  in 
history  have  so  many  English  books  been  translated 
into  Dutch  as  in  our  present  time.  On  the  contrary 
nearly  all  the  words  of  Dutch  origin  in  the  English 
language  are  from  earlier  ages,  and  the  influence  of 
Holland  exerted  on  English  literature  dates  from  those 
centuries  when  Holland  was  in  its  glorious  days,  and 
when  civilization  in  the  Netherlands  was  at  a  higher 
development  and  more  general  than  in  any  other 
country  in  the  world.  And  while  at  present  Holland 
cannot  be  said  to  have  any  influence  whatever  on 
England  in  general,  including  English  language  and 
literature — except  in  South  Africa — it  is  a  matter  of 
fact  that  every  year  English  words  are  creeping  into 
the  Dutch  language,  and  that  English  literature  exerts 
an  influence  on  Dutch  literature  which  nobody  can 
deny. 

All  history  proves  that  whenever  two  countries,  by 


68  HOLLAND   AND   ENGLAND 

their  natural  situation,  have  permanent  and  frequent 
intercourse  with  each  other,  either  one  or  the  other 
will  exert  a  more  dominant  and  prevailing  influence, 
and  which  one  shall  dominate  depends  at  any  time 
upon  the  question  in  which  of  the  two  countries 
civilization,  power  and  wealth  are  more  prominent. 

The  predominance  of  the  Netherlands  we  find  as 
far  back  as  the  time  in  which  William  the  Conqueror 
brought  Flemish  soldiers,  and  Flemish  weavers,  to 
England,  and  married  a  Flemish  princess,  but  is  to  be 
found  especially  from  the  fourteenth  till  the  eighteenth 
centuries,  while  that  of  England  begins  in  the  eight- 
eenth century  and  has  been  working  in  its  full  power 
through  the  whole  nineteenth  century  till  our  present 
time. 

Yet  England's  influence  on  Holland  never  could 
be  so  very  important,  for  the  simple  reason  that  France 
as  well  as  Germany  are  in  more  close  contact  with 
Holland  than  England. 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE  INFLUENCE  EXERTED  ON  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE 
is  ENTIRELY  DIFFERENT  FROM  THAT  ON  ENGLISH 
LITERATURE. 

However  closely  and  even  inseparably  language 
and  literature  may  be  connected,  yet  they  are  not 
identical,  and  the  influence  which  Holland  exerted  on 
the  English  language  is  entirely  different  from  that 
on  English  literature.  The  Flemish  weavers  and 
soldiers,  brought  to  England  by  William  the  Con- 
queror, the  thousands  of  skilled  laborers  and  farmers, 
who  settled  in  the  eastern  districts  of  England  during 
several  centuries,  and  the  great  mass  of  refugees  who 
fled  to  England  during  the  sixteenth  century,  all 
lived  among  the  English  people,  mixed  with  the  Eng- 
lish population,  taught  different  things  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  England,  and  used  for  those  things  their  own 
Flemish  names.  They  introduced  Flemish  words  into 
England ;  those  words  were  added  to  the  English 
vocabulary,  and  in  that  way  all  those  people  exerted 
some  influence  on  the  English  language,  but  this  in- 
fluence did  not  touch  English  literature. 

On  the  contrary  when  scholars  like  Erasmus  and 
FrancisCus  Junius,  Vossius  and  Van  der  Noot  came  to 
England,  they  spoke  from  the  beginning  the  English 
language,  or  they  spoke  Latin.  They  did  not  intro- 
duce Flemish  words  into  the  English  language,  but 
by  their  writings,  by  their  conversation  and  corre- 
spondence they  brought  hew  ideas,  new  suggestions 

69 


70          INFLUENCE   EXERTED   IS   DIFFERENT 

for  the  literary  men,  for  the  scholars  and  poets ;  they 
exerted  an  influence  on  English  literature.  And  even 
without  coming  themselves  to  England,  when  the 
works  of  scholars  and  poets  in  the  Netherlands  are 
spread  over  England,  and  read  by  men  of  education 
and  learning,  then  the  influence  of  these  scholars  and 
poets  on  English  language  is  nothing,  but  on  English 
literature  it  may  be  considerable. 

English  soldiers  and  refugees  came  to  the  Nether- 
lands by  the  thousand;  they  saw  there  things,  and 
learned  there  industries  which  they  did  not  know 
before ;  they  heard  the  names  for  all  those  new  things, 
and  for  every  part  of  them,  in  the  Dutch  language ; 
they  grew  familiar  with  these  Dutch  words  and  terms, 
and  coming  back  to  England,  they  continued  to  use 
these  Dutch  terms  as  they  learned  them  in  Holland. 
Their  influence  is  only  on  the  English  ^language,  not  on 
English  literature. 

But  when  hundreds  of  students  from  England  and 
Scotland  come  to  Leyden  University  to  study  there 
all  kinds  of  sciences,  and  some  of  them  in  later  time 
write  books  in  England,  then  we  see  the  influence  of 
what  they  studied  in  Holland,  and  in  their  writings  we 
shall  find  something  of  the  influence  which  Holland 
exerted  on  English  literature. 

The  common  citizens,  the  unlearned  people,  the 
men  of  industry,  trade  and  agriculture,  these  are  the 
people  that  are  making  and  changing  the  language. 

So  a  language  is  changing  all  the  time.  "Growth 
and  change,"  says  Whitney,  "make  the  life  of  language, 
as  they  are  everywhere  else  the  inseparable  accom- 
paniment of  life.  A  language  is  living  when  it  is  the 
instrument  of  thought  of  a  whole  people,  the  wonted 
means  of  expression  of  all  their  feelings,  experiences, 
opinions,  reasonings;  when  the  connection  between  it 


INFLUENCE   EXERTED   IS  DIFFERENT         71 

and  their  mental  activity  is  so  close  that  the  one  reflects 
the  other,  and  that  the  two  grow  together,  the  in- 
strument ever  adapting  itself  to  the  uses  which  it  is 
to  subserve."1 

But  the  scholars  and  poets,  the  learned  men  of 
high  education,  the  philosophers,  the  statesmen  and 
the  clergymen,  the  people  who  propagate  and  practice 
their  ideas  in  state,  in  church  and  in  society — these  are 
the  men  who  are  making  the  literature.  Now  when 
the  things  that  happen  in  Holland  in  any  department 
of  life  are  important,  and  interesting  enough  to  at- 
tract the  attention  and  the  interest  of  English  people, 
and  to  influence  their  writings,  then  we  can  say  that 
Holland  has  an  influence  on  English  literature,  which 
is  the  result  of  this  interest. 

When  a  nation  is  ahead  in  industry  and  trade,  in 
navigation  and  agriculture,  in  a  word,  in  all  those 
things  which  touch  immediately  the  life  and  the  daily 
work  of  the  common  people,  then  it  is  very  likely  that 
words  and  terms  in  connection  with  all  these  things 
will  be  introduced  into  the  language  of  that  other 
nation,  which  has  to  learn  and  to  follow. 

But  when  a  nation  is  ahead  in  religious  and  polit- 
ical ideas  and  movements,  in  sciences  and  in  art,  or 
in  social  movements,  then  it  is  very  likely  that  philos- 
ophers and  statesmen,  clergymen  and  poets,  in  a 
word  all  those  people  who  make  the  literature  of  a 
nation,  will  feel  the  influence  of  the  leading  nation, 
and  in  such  cases  we  observe  the  influence  of  one 
nation  on  the  literature  of  the  other. 

Now  in  the  case  of  Holland  and  England  every 
historian  knows  that  during  centuries  Holland  was 
far  ahead  of  England  in  industry  and  in  trade,  in 


1  William  Dwight  Whitney,  Language  and  the  Study  of  Language, 
p.  32- 


72          INFLUENCE   EXERTED   IS  DIFFERENT 

navigation  and  in  agriculture,  as  well  as  in  political, 
religious  and  social  ideas  and  movements,  in  sciences 
and  in  art.  Consequently,  before  having  made  any 
further  researches,  we  may  suppose  that  during  those 
centuries  Holland  has  exerted  some  influence  on  the 
English  language,  as  well  as  on  English  literature,  an 
influence  which  the  following  pages  may  show  more 
clearly. 


CHAPTER  X 

How  IT  HAPPENED  THAT  HOLLAND 'EXERTED  INFLU- 
ENCE ON  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE 

The  first  man,  and  till  the  present  time,  at  least 
in  England  and  America,  the  only  man  who  has 
made  any  elaborate  investigation  of  this  question,  is 
the  Rev.  W.  W.  Skeat.  In  his  "brief  notes,"  in  the 
introductory  part  of  his  Etymological  Dictionary  he 
says:  "The  introduction  into  English  of  Dutch 
words  is  somewhat  important  yet  seems  to  have  re- 
ceived but  little  attention.  I  am  convinced  that  the 
influence  of  Dutch  upon  English  has  been  much 
underrated,  and  a  closer  attention  to  this  question 
might  throw  some  light  even  upon  English  history.  I 
think  I  may  take  the  credit  of  being  the  first  to  point 
this  out  with  sufficient  distinctness.  History  tells  us 
that  our  relations  with  the  Netherlands  have  often 
been  rather  close.  We  read  of  Flemish  mercenary 
soldiers  being  employed  by  the  Normans,  and  of 
Flemish  settlements  in  Wales,  "where,"  says  old 
Babyan  (I  know  not  with  what  truth),  "they  re- 
mayned  a  longe  whyle,  but  after,  they  sprad  all  Eng- 
lande  over."  We  may  recall  the  alliance  between 
Edward  III,  and  the  free  towns  of  Flanders ;  and  the 
importation,  by  Edward,  of  Flemish  weavers.  The 
wool  used  by  the  cloth-workers  of  the  Low  Countries 
grew  on  the  backs  of  English  sheep ;  and  other  close 
relations  between  us  and  our  nearly  related  neigh- 
bors grew  out  of  the  brewing-trade,  the  invention  of 

73 


74  HOW  IT  HAPPENED 

printing,  and  the  reformation  of  religion.  Caxton 
spent  thirty  years  in  Flanders  (where  the  first  Eng- 
lish book  was  printed),  and  translated  the  Low  Ger- 
man version  of  Reynard  the  Fox.  Tyndale  settled 
at  Antwerp  to  print  his  New  Testament,  and  was 
strangled  at  Vilvorde.  But  there  was  a  still  closer 
contact  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  Very  instructive  is 
Gascoigne's  poem  on  the  Fruits  of  War,  where  he 
describes  his  experience  in  Holland,  and  everyone 
knows  that  Zutphen  saw  the  death  of  the  beloved 
Sir  Philip  Sidney.  As  to  the  introduction  of  cant 
words  from  Holland,  see  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's 
play  entitled  "The  Beggar's  Bush."  After  Antwerp 
had  been  captured  by  the  Duke  of  Parma,  "a  third 
of  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  the  ruined 
city,"  says  Mr.  Green,  "are  said  to  have  found  a 
refuge  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames."  All  this  can- 
not but  have  affected  our  language  and  it  ought  to 
be  accepted  as  tolerably  certain  that  during  the  four- 
teenth, fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  particularly 
the  last,  several  Dutch  words  were  introduced  into 
England,  and  it  would  be  curious  to  inquire  whether, 
during  the  same  period,  several  English  words  did 
not  in  like  manner  find  currency  in  the  Netherlands." 
I  wonder  why  Dr.  Skeat  did  not  mention,  even  in 
this  brief  outline,  the  influence  of  the  persecutions  for 
religious  reasons,  by  which  for  instance  under 
Charles  V  and  Philip  II  thousands  of  Dutchmen  fled 
to  England,  and  under  Bloody  Mary,  as  well  as 
under  the  Stuarts,  at  many  times,  thousands  of  Eng- 
lish people  found  a  refuge  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
armies,  often,  of  several  thousands  of  English  sol- 
diers, who  were  stationed  for  many  years  in  the 
Netherlands  during  Elizabeth  and  later  as  well,  must 
have  felt  the  influence  of  Dutch,  but  on  scattered 


HOW  IT  HAPPENED  75 

refugees  all  over  the  Netherlands  we  may  expect  a 
far  greater  influence.  During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth 
we  meet  in  the  Netherlands  not  only  Leicester  and 
Sir  Philip  Sidney  with  thousands  of  English  soldiers, 
but  noblemen  as  well,  like  Sir  John  Norris,  and  Sir 
Francis  Vere,  and  Lord  Willoughby,  as  well  as  Sir 
Roger  Williams,  who  in  the  year  -1587  was  one  of 
the  defenders  of  Sluys  in  Zealand,  and  many  others, 
among  whom  were  some  of  bad  repute,  as  for 
instance  Sir  William  Stanley,  the  betrayer  of  Deven- 
ter,  and  Rowland  York,  who  betrayed  the  fortress 
of  Zutphen.  The  two  sons  of  Charles  I,  with  a  great 
number  of  their  adherents,  found  refuge  in  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  story  of  Argyle  and  Monmouth 
shows  how  many  English  refugees  in  later  time  dur- 
ing the  persecutions  of  Charles  II  and  James  II  lived 
in  the  Low  Countries,  just  as  the  Pilgrim  fathers 
lived  there  at  an  earlier  time  during  the  years 
1609-1620. 

Not  only  did  many  thousands  of  English  people 
live  in  Holland  either  as  soldiers  or  as  refugees,  and 
become  acquainted  there  with  many  Dutch  words  and 
expressions,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  thousands  of 
Hollanders  had  lived  in  the  eastern  districts  of  Eng- 
land for  centuries,  while  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth, 
during  the  reign  of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  the  popula- 
tion of  some  cities  in  the  eastern  parts  of  England 
was  more  than  half  Dutch. 

The  question  of  how  far  Holland  exerted  influ- 
ence on  England  has  been  made  a  subject  of  special 
research  by  Douglas  Campbell  in  his  work,  The  Puri- 
tans, and  the  material  brought  together  in  his  book 
certainly  has  spread  more  light,  but  the  subject  seems 
far  from  being  exhausted.  And  yet  in  these  re- 
searches we  find  more  and  more  the  way  along  which 


76  HOW  IT  HAPPENED 

many    Dutch    words    have    come    into    the    English 
language. 

W.  W.  Skeat  has  treated  this  question  a  little  more 
elaborately  than  in  his  dictionary,  in  his  work,  "Prin- 
ciples of  English  Etymology,"  Vol.  I,  Chapter  XXIV, 
where  he  gives  the  following  explanation: 

"When  we  consider  that  it  has  long  been  an  ad- 
mitted fact,  that  numerous  English  words  were 
directly  borrowed  from  Scandinavian,  being  brought 
over  from  Denmark  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  cen- 
turies, it  seems  strange  that  so  little  is  said  in  our 
grammars  about  the  borrowing  of  English  words 
from  the  Old  Dutch  and  Old  Friesic.  Morris,  in  his 
Historical  Outlines  of  English  Accidence,  gives  a 
meagre  list  of  thirteen  words  borrowed  from  Dutch, 
none  of  them  being  of  any  great  antiquity  in  English. 
Koch,  in  his  Grammatik,  Hi.  150,  gives  a  list  of  about 
forty  words  which  he  supposes  to  be  of  "Nieder- 
deutsch"  origin.  Such  a  treatment  of  the  subject  is 
surely  inadequate.  It  remains  for  me  to  show  that 
this  element  is  of  considerable  importance,  and  should 
not  be  so  lightly  passed  over,  as  if  the  matter  were 
of  little  account. 

"The  first  question  is,  at  what  period  are  we  to  date 
the  borrowing  of  English  words  from  the  Nether- 
lands? The  right  answer  is,  that  the  dates  are  vari- 
ous, and  the  occasions  may  have  been  many.  It  is 
concede'd  that  several  sea-terms  are  really  Dutch. 
Dr.  Morris  instances  boom,  cruise,  sloop,  yacht  (Du. 
boom,  kruizen,  jagt,  older  spelling  jacht)  ;  as  well 
as  the  word  schooner..  But  the  last  instance  is  incor- 
rect; the  original  name  was  scooner*  and  originated 
in  America,  but  was  afterwards  turned  into  schooner 

1  From  prqv.  E.  scoon,  to  glide  over  water.  See  the  story  as  told  in 
Webster's  Dictionary;  a  story  which  I  once  doubted,  but  find  to  be  true; 
see  Whitney,  Study  of  Language,  1868,  p.  38.  Schooner  has  no  sense 
in  Dutch,  and  is  known  to  be  borrowed  from  us. 


HOW   IT   HAPPENED  77 

because  such  was  the  Dutch  spelling  of  the  word 
after  they  had  borrozved  it  from  us!  It  is  just  one 
more  instance  of  drawing  a  false  induction  from  cor- 
rect premises.  Because  should  and  would  are  spelt 
with  /,  could  is  spelt  so  too;  and  because  sloop  and 
yacht  are  Dutch,  schooner  is  supposed  to  be  the  same. 
But  we  may,  I  think,  safely  add  to  the  list  the  nautical 
terms  ahoy,  aloof,  avast,  belay,1  caboose,  hoist  hold 
(of  a  ship),  hoy,  hull,  lash  (to  bind  spars  together), 
lighter  (a  barge),  marline,  moor  (to  fasten  a  boat), 
orlop _(a  kind  of  ship's  deck),  pink  (fishing-boat), 
reef  (of  a  sail),  reef  (a  rock),  reeve,  rover  (sea- 
robber),  to  sheer  off,  skipper,  smack  (fishing-boat), 
splice,  strand  (of  a  rope),  swab,  yawl;  which,  with 
the  four  already  mentioned,  give  more  than  thirty 
Dutch  words  in  nautical  affairs  alone.  Even  pilot 
is  nothing  but  Old  Dutch,  disguised  in  a  French 
spelling.2 

"But  there  is  another  set  of  words  of  Dutch  origin, 
of  a  different  kind,  which  must  also  be  considered. 
It  is  from  the  Netherlands  that  some  at  least  of  the 
cant  terms  current  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth  were  bor- 
rowed, though  a  very  few  may  be  of  Gipsy  origin, 
and  may  thus  be  traced  to  the  East.  When  Fletcher 
the  dramatist  wrote  his  play  of  the  Beggar's  Bush 
in  1622,  it  is  remarkable  that  he  laid  the  scenes  in 
Ghent  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bruges,  and  makes 
Gerrard,  who  is  disguised  as  the  King  of  the  Beg- 
gars, and  understands  a  cant  dialect,  the  father  of  a 
rich  merchant  of  the  latter  town.  It  is  clear  whence 
Fletcher  obtained  the  cant  words  which  he  introduces 
into  his  dialogue  so  copiously.  They  are  much  the 

1  In  some  senses,  all  obsolete,   belay   is  a  native   English  term.     As 
a  nautical  term,  it  first  appears  in  The  Complaint  of  Scotland,  ed.  Mur- 
ray, ch.  vi,  p.  41    (1549). 

2  See  the  note  on  this  difficult  word  in  the   Supplement  to  my  Dic- 
tionary.    W.  W.  Skeat. 


78  HOW  IT  HAPPENED 

same  set  as  may  be  found  in  Awdeley's  Fraternitye 
of  Vagabondes,  first  printed  in  1561,  and  in  Harman's 
Caveat  for  Vagabondes,  printed  in  1567;  see  Furni- 
vall's  edition  of  these  books  for  the  Early  English 
Text  Society,  which  contains  a  Glossary,  and  an  ad- 
ditional list  of  words  at  p.  xxii.  Harrison,  in  his 
Description  of  England,  bk.  ii.  c.  10  (ed.  1587),  says 
that  the  trade  of  the  vagabonds,  or  roving  Gypsies, 
had  begun  some  sixty  years  previously,  and  that  their 
number  was  said  to  exceed  ten  thousand.  I  suppose 
they  reached  England  by  way  of  Holland,  and 
picked  up  some  Dutch  by  the  way;  though  it  will  be 
found  that  the  main  portion  of  the  cant  language  is 
nothing  but  depraved  and  debased  English,  coined  by 
using  words  in  odd  senses,  and  with  slight  changes, 
as  when,  e.  g.,  food  is  called  belly  cheer,  or  night  is 
called  darkmans.  The  following  are  some  of  the  old 
cant  terms  which  I  should  explain  from  Dutch. 
Bufe,  a  dog  ;*  from  Du.  baffen,  to  bark.  Bung,  a 
purse;  Friesic  pung,  a  purse.  Kinchin,  a  child  (Har- 
man,  p.  76)  ;  Du.  kindekin,  an  infant  (Hexham). 
Pad,  a  road,  as  in  high  pad,  high  road;  Du.  pad,  a 
path,  hence  the  sb.  padder,  a  robber  on  the  road,  now 
called  a  footpad,  and  pad-nag,  a  road-horse  now 
shortened  to  pad.  Prad,  a  horse ;  Du.  paard,  a  horse ; 
Slates,  sheets;  Du.  slet,  a  rag,  clout.  Hexham,  in 
his  Old  Dutch  Dictionary  (1658),  records  a  verb 
facken;  "to  catch  or  to  gripe ;"  which  suggests  a  plausi- 
ble origin  for  the  cant  word  fake,  to  steal.  It  is  to 
be  remarked  that  some  of  the  cant  terms  seem  to 
be  borrowed  from  parts  of  the  continent  still  more 
remote  than  Holland ;  for  f ambles,  hands,  is  plainly 
Danish,  from  the  Dan.  famle,  to  handle;  whilst  nase, 
drunk,  is  precisely  the  High  G.  nass,  used  literally 

1  The  modern  slang  word  for  dog  is  buffer  (Hotten). 


HOW  IT   HAPPENED  79 

in  the  sense  of  "wet,"  but  figuratively  in  the  sense 
of  "drunk;"  the  Low  G.  form  being  nat. 

"There  was  a  rather  close  contact  between  English 
and  Dutch  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  due  to  the  war 
against  Spain.  After  Antwerp  had  been  conquered 
by  the  Duke  of  Parma,  "a  third  of  the  merchants  and 
manufacturers  of  the  ruined  city,"  says  Mr.  Green, 
"are  said  to  have  found  a  refuge  on  the  banks  of 
the  Thames."  We  should  particularly  note  such  a 
poem  as  that  entitled  the  Fruits  of  War,  by  George 
Gascoigne,  where  he  describes  his  experiences  in 
Holland.  He  and  other  English  volunteers  picked 
up  Dutch  words,  and  brought  them  home.  Thus,  in 
st.  136  of  that  poem,  he  says  that  he  "equyppt  a 
Hoye;"  where  hoy,  a  boat  (Du.  hey}  is  a  word  still 
in  use.  In  st.  40,  he  uses  the  adj.  frolicke  to  express 
cheerful  or  merry  which  is  borrowed  from  Du. 
vrolijk  spelt  vrolick  by  Hexham ;  Ben  Jonson  who 
also  had  served  in  Holland  spells  it  froelich,  as  if  it 
was  hardly  naturalised,  in  The  Case  is  Altered,  Act  i, 
sc.  i.  In  his  Voyage  to  Holland,  Gascoigne  quotes 
several  Dutch  sentences,  which  be  explains  by  means 
of  notes.  He  also  introduces  the  word  pynke,  which 
he  explains  by  "a  small  bote;"  this  is  mod.  E.  pink 
(Du.  pink). 

In  Ben  Jonson's  well-known  play,  "Every  Man 
in  His  Humour,"  we  may  find  several  Dutch  words. 
Thus  he  has  guilder  as  the  name  of  a  coin,  Act  Hi, 
sc.  i ;  this  is  a  sort  of  E.  translation  of  Du.  gulden, 
literally  golden,  also  the  name  of  a  coin ;  Hexham 
gives:  (ceen  Gulden,  or  Carolus  gulden,  a  Gilder,  or 
a  Charles  Gilder;  een  Philippus  gulden,  a  Philips 
Gilder."  Again,  he  has  lance-knights,  foot-soldiers, 
in  Act  ii,  sc.  4  [or  2]  ;  this  is  merely  the  Du.  lans- 
knecht,  which  has  also  been  taken  into  French  (and 


80  HOW  IT  HAPPENED 

even  into  English)  in  the  form  lansquenet.  In  Act 
iii,  sc.  i,  he  has  the  sb.  leagure,  and  the  derivative 
beleag'ring;  we  still  use  beleaguer,  from  the  Du. 
belegeren,  to  besiege,  the  Du.  sb.  being  leger,  a  camp. 
In  Act  ii,  sc.  i,  he  has  quacksalvers,  mountebanks, 
from  Du.  kvvakzalver;  the  word  is  still  common  in  the 
abbreviated  form  quack  as  applied  to  a  physician. 

''There  are  several  Dutch  words  in  Shakespeare, 
who  quotes  one  word  as  Dutch  when  he  says — 'lustig, 
as  the  Dutchman  says ;'  All's  Well,  ii.,  3,  47 ;  where 
lustig  means  'in  excellent  spirits.'  The  list  of  Dutch 
words  in  Shakespeare  is  a  much  longer  one  than 
might  be  expected.  I  give  it  here,  referring  to  my 
Dictionary  for  the  etymologies.  It  runs  thus:  boor, 
brabble,  burgomaster,  buskin  (ed),  canakin,1  cope,  v., 
copes-mate,2  crants  (Du.  krans  or  G.  Krans),  deck 
(of  a  ship),  deck,  v.,  doit,  foist,  fop,  frolic,  fumble, 
geek,  a  fool  (Du.  gek),  gilder,  a  coin,  glib,  adj.,  glib, 
v.  (M.  Du.  gelubben,  to  castrate),  groat,  heyday  or 
hoy  day,  used  as  an  interjection,  hogshead,  hoise,  not 
hoist,  hold  (of  a  ship),  Holland,  hoy,  hull  (of  a  ship), 
jeer,  jerkin,  leaguer f  a  camp  (Du.  leger),  link,  a 
torch,  linstock,  loiter,  lop,  manakin,  minikin,  min.v,5 
mop,  mope,  rant,  ravel,  rover,  ruffle,  sloven  (ly), 
snaffle,  snap,  snip,  snuff,  v.  to  sniff;  sprat,  sutler, 
swabber,  snitch,  toy,  trick,  uproar,  waggon* 
wainscot.  Many  of  these  terms  are  nautical,  such 
as  deck,  hoise,  hold,  hoy,  hull,  rover  (sea-pirate), 
sprat,  swabber;  others  are  just  such  words  as  might 
easily  be  picked  up  by  roving  English  volunteer 

1  "Ben  kanneken,  A  small  Canne";  Hexham.     Skeat. 

2  "From  Du.  koopen,  to  barter,  and  M.  Du.  maet,  a  mate  (Hexham) 
But  mate  is  also  E.,  though  hardly  so  in  this  compound."   Skeat. 

3  "This  difficult  word  has  been  at  last  explained  by  me,  in  the  Phil. 
Soc.     Trans.,     1886.       It    is    merely    the    Friesic     (and    Bremen)    minsk, 
variant    of    Du.   incnsch,    a    man,    or    (when    neuter)    a    wench."      Skeat. 

4  "Waggon  was  re-introduced  into  England   from  abroad,  long  after 
the  A.  S.  imaegn  had  passed  into  E.  wain."     Skeat. 


HOW   IT   HAPPENED  81 

soldiers,  viz.  boor,  burgomaster,  buskin,  doit,  fop, 
frolic,  geek,  gilder,  heyday,  hogshead,  jerkin,  leaguer, 
link,  linstock,  loiter,  lop,  manakin,  minx,  snaffle, 
sutler,  sivitch,  trick,  uproar,  waggon;  indeed,  in  the 
case  of  some  of  these,  as  doit,  gilder,  jerkin,  leaguer, 
link,  linstock,  snaffle,  sutler,  trick,  waggon,  the  con- 
nection with  military  affairs  is  sufficiently  obvious. 

"For  other  words  of  (presumably)  Dutch  origin, 
see  the  list  in  my  Etym.  Die.,  2nd  ed.  1884,  p.  750; 
or  my  Concise  Etym.  Diet.,  p.  607." 

"In'  the  case  of  the  majority  of  these  words,  the 
certainty  of  their  being  borrowed  from  the  Low 
Countries  is  verified  by  their  non-occurrence  in  Mid- 
dle English.  They  nearly  all  belong  to  what  I  have 
called  the  modern  period,  viz.,  the  period  after  1500, 
when  the  introduction  of  new  words  from  abroad  ex- 
cites no  surprise.  A  more  difficult  and  perhaps  more 
important  question  remains,  viz.,  as  to  the  possible 
introduction  of  Dutch  or  Low  German  words  into 
Middle  English.  We  are  here  met  by  the  difficulty 
that  Old  Dutch  and  Middle  English  had  a  strong 
resemblance,  which  may  easily  mislead  an  inquirer. 
Thus  Mr.  Blades,  in  his  Life  of  Ca.rton,  1882,  p.  2, 
speaks  of  "the  good  wife  of  Kent,  who  knew  what 
the  Flemish  word  eyren  meant,  but  understood  not 
the  English  word  eggs"  But  the  whole  point  of  the 
story  depends  upon  the  fact  that  the  word  for  "eggs" 
was  egg-is  in  Northern  and  Midland  English,  but 
eyren  in  the  Southern  dialect ;  in  fact,  ciren  occurs 
in  the  Ancren  Riwle,  p.  66,  and  is  formed  by  adding 
the  Southern  en  to  the  form  eyr-e,  resulting  regu- 
larly from  the  A.  S.  pi.  aegru.  Mr.  Blades  tells  us 
we  must  "bear  in  mind  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Weald  had  a  strong  admixture  of  Flemish  blood  in 
their  best  families,  and  that  cloth  was  their  chief, 


82  HOW  IT   HAPPENED 

and  probably  only  manufacture."  All  this  may  be 
true,  but  the  particular  anecdote  which  is  quoted  to 
prove  it  does,  in  effect,  prove  nothing  of  the  kind. 
It  proves,  rather,  that  the  language  of  the  Saxons 
who  came  to  England  did  not  originally  differ  from 
the  language  of  those  of  their  fellows  whom  they  left 
behind;  and  the  points  we  have  to  determine  are 
rather,  to  what  extent  had  the  differentiation  between 
these  two  tongues  proceeded  at  any  given  date,  and 
what  evidence  have  we  of  the  actual  borrowing  of 
Dutch,  Friesic,  or  Low  German  words  at  various 
periods?  A  convenient  period  for  consideration  is 
that  which  extends  over  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries,  when  there  were  especially  close  com- 
mercial relations  between  the  English  and  Flemish. 
The  Libell  of  English  Policye,  written  in  1436,  speaks 
of  the  "commoditees  of  Flaundres"  at  some  length, 
and  reminds  the  Flemings  that  their  great  manufac- 
ture of  cloth  was  dependent  upon  England,  as  it  was 
nearly  all  made  of  English  wool,  to  which  Spanish 
wool  was  inferior.  The  writer  adds  that  merchandise 
from  Prussia,  and  even  from  Spain,  reached  England 
by  way  of  Flanders,  which  was  indeed  "but  a  staple1 
to  other  lands."  We  might  expect  such  Flemish  or 
Dutch  words  as  occur  in  Middle  English  to  apply  to 
various  implements  used  in  such  trades  as  weaving 
and  brewing,  and  in  mechanical  arts,  but  it  is  very 
difficult  to  investigate  these  matters,  since  the  Eng- 
lish were  already  well  supplied  with  necessary  words. 
Still,  I  think  the  word  spool  is  a  clear  instance  of 
a  borrowed  word.  It  occurs,  spelt  spole,  in  the 
Promptorium  Parvulorum,  about  1440,  and  in  another 
Vocabulary  of  the  fifteenth  century;  and  answers  to 

1  "The    very    word    staple    is    certainly    L,ow    German,    slightly    dis- 
guised by  a   French   spelling."      Skeat. 


HOW  IT  HAPPENED  83 

M.  Du.  spoele,  Du.  spoel,  Low  G.  spole.  The  native 
E.  word  is  reel  (A.  S.  hreol). 

"Other  low  words  which  I  regard  as  having  been 
borrowed  from  various  forms  of  Low  German  rather 
than  as  forming  part  of  the  stock  of  native  English 
are  the  following:  botch,  to  patch;  bounce,  boy, 
brake  (for  flax),  bulk  (in  the  obsolete  sense  of  trunk 
of  the  body),  cough,  curl,  duck,  v.,  to  dive;  fop,  girl, 
groat,  hawker,  huckster,  kails  (a  game),  knurr  or 
knur,  a  knot  in  wood,  wooden  ball ;  lack,  s.  and  v. ; 
lash,  to  bind  together ;  loll,  loon,  luck,  m&xer,  mud, 
muddle,  nag,  a  horse ;  nick,  notch,  orts,  pamper, 
patch,  plash,  a  pool;  rabbit  (f),  rabble,  scoff,  scold, 
shock,  a  pile  of  sheaves;  shudder,  skew,  slabber, 
slender,  slight,  slot,  a  bolt;  spool,  sprout,  tub,  tuck, 
v.,  tug,  unto.  All  these  words  are,  I  believe,  found 
in  the  Middle  English  period,  but  not  earlier ;  and 
in  some  cases  the  fact  of  the  borrowing  is  certain. 
Thus  groat  is  Low  G.  groot,  the  E.  form  being 
great;  mazer  is  a  bowl  made  of  the  spotted  wood  of 
the  maple,  the  M.  H.  G.  word  for  "spot"  being 
maze;1  tub,  Low  G.  tubbe,  may  have  been  brought 
in  by  the  brewing  trade,  together  with  vat  (Du.  vat)  ; 
hawker  and  hukster  are  certainly  not  native  words; 
kails  is  a  Dutch  game,  from  the  Du.  kegel,  a  cone, 
a  sort  of  ninepins.  Some  of  these  words  appear  in 
Friesic,  and  it  is  possible  that  they  belonged  to  the 
word-stock  of  the  Friesians  who  came  over  with  the 
Saxons,  but  this  will  always  be,  in  the  absence  of 
evidence,  a  very  difficult  point. 

"The  E.  Friesic  Dictionary  by  Koolman  gives 
some  help;  I  note  the  following:  Bummsen,  to 
bounce,  from  bumms,  the  noise  of  a  heavy  fall;  boy, 

1  "Koolman  utterly  misses  the  etymology;  he  seems  to  have  trusted 
to  Jamieson's  Dictionary  for  English,  as  he  mentions  no  other  authority." 
Skeat. 


84  HO W   IT   HAPPENED 

a  boy,  nearly  obsolete  in  Friesic;  brake,  a  flax-brake; 
knchen,  to  cough  (the  A.  S.  word  is  hwostan)  ;  krul, 
a  curl,  krullen,  to  curl ;  duken,  to  duck,  bend  down ; 
fop  pen,  to  befool  (the  M.  E.  foppe  being  used  to 
mean  a  foolish  person,  see  my  Supplement)  ;  grote, 
grot,  a  groat ;  hdker,  a  hawker ;  kegel,  a  kail ;  knure, 
a  bump;  lak,  a  defect;  lasken,  to  lash  together;  16m, 
tired,  slow,  whence  M.  E.  lowmish,  slow,  stupid,  and 
E.  loon  or  lown  (for  *loivm)  ;  liik,  luck,  miidde,  mud; 
muddelen,  to  muddle ;  or/,  ort,  remnant ;  plas,  plasse, 
a  plash,  pool;  rabbcln,  rappeln,  to  chatter,  rappalje, 
a  rabble,  schelden,  to  scold;  schiiddern,  to  shudder; 
.slabbern,  slubbern,  to  slabber  or  slubber;  slicht, 
smooth,  also  slight ;  slot,  a  lock ;  spole,  spol,  a  spool ; 
sprute,  a -sprout,  bud,  spruten,  to  sprout;  tubbe,  a 
tub.  The  difficult  word  touch-wood  is  easily  ex- 
plained when  we  find  that  the"  M.  E.  form  was  tache, 
tinder,  or  inflammable  stuff,  answering  to  E.  Friesic 
takke,  a  twig,  takje,  a  little  twig. 

"Richthofen's  O.  Friesic  Dictionary  also  gives 
some  help;  we  should  especially  notice  the  following: 
dekka,  to  thatch;  fro,  glad  (cf.  E.  fro-lic)  ;  grata,  a 
groat ;  Ink,  luck ;  minska,  a  man,  for  mcnska,  which 
is  short  for  manniska  (cf.  E.  minx}  ;  pad,  a  path  (cf. 
E.  foot-pad)  ;  skelda,  to  scold ;  skof,  a  scoff ;  slot,  a 
lock;  snavel,  mouth  (cf.  E.  snaffle}  ;  spruta,  to  sprout; 
ond-,  iind-,  on-,  a  prefix,  the  same  as  E.  un-,  into 
un-to. 

"There  is  a  glossary  to  Heyne's  Kleiner e  altnieder- 
deutsche  Dcnkm'dlcr,  which  gives  several  hints ;  I 
note  particularly  the  words  be-scoffon,  to  scoff  at ; 
scok,  a  shock  of  corn ;  slot,  a  lock ;  tint,  unto.  The 
Bremen  Worterbuch  also  throws  much  light  upon 
Low  German  forms ;  for  example,  it  gives  biinsen,  to 
bounce,  from  the  inter j.  bums,  signifying  the  noise 


HOW  IT   HAPPENED  85 

of  a  fall,  showing  that  the  n  in  this  word  is  due  to 
putting  n  for  m  before  a  following  s. 

"A  most  useful  Dictionary  of  Old  Low  German 
has  lately  appeared,  by  K.  Schiller  and  A.  Liibben. 
As  a  specimen  of  the  information  to  be  derived  from 
it,  I  quote  the  following:  'Basse,  botze,  boitze,  Art 
grobes  Schuhwerk ;'  which  explains^  E.  botch,  to 
patch.  The  authors  add  the  following  curious 
passage:  'Nullus  allutariorum  ponet  soleas  sub  cal- 
seis,  quae  botzc  dicuntiir.'  Again,  they  remark  that 
gor,  a  girl  (whence  E.  girl)  is  much  used  in  dialectal 
speech,  though  it  seems  scarce  in  books.  I  also  find 
hoken,  to  hawk  about,  and  hokcbokcn,  to  carry  on 
the  back,  which  makes  me  think  that  my  guess  as 
to  huckaback,  viz.,  that  it  originally  meant  'pedlars' 
ware,'  may  be  right.  Other  useful  entries  are: 
knerreholt,  thin  oaken  boards  (evidently  wood  with 
knurrs  or  knots  in  it)  ;  lucke,  luck;  mascle,  measles, 
spots;  maser,  maple;  'enen  maser  en  kop' ;  a  maple 
cup,  a  mazer ;  muddle,  mud ;  ort,  ort ;  placke,  a  patch ; 
plasken,  to  plash  or  plunge  into  water ;  plump,  inter- 
jection, used  of  the  noise  made  by  King  Log  when 
he  falls  into  the  water ;  plunder,  booty,  plunder- 
waare,  household  stuff,  especially  bits  of  clothing ; 
rabbat,  a  rabble,  mob;  schock,  a  shock,  or  heap  of 
corn,  Schockcn,  to  put  into  shocks ;  schudden,  to 
shake,  shudder;  slampampen,  to  live  daintily  (cf.  E. 
pamper)  ;  sprot,  a  sprat,  etc.  It  is  somewhat  sur- 
prising to  find  in  this  -work  the  phrase  ut  unde  ut, 
which  is  precisely  our  out  and  out.  We  want  all 
the  light  that  is  obtainable  to  guide  us  in  this  matter. 

"After  all,  some  of  the  above  words  may  be 
found  in  A.  S.  glosses,  or  may  occur  in  unpublished 
texts.  The  word  dog  seemed  to  me  to  be  borrowed, 
the  E.  word  being  hound;  in  fact,  we  find  Du.  dog,  M. 


86  HOW  IT  HAPPENED 

Du.  dogge,  Swed.  dogg,  Dan.  dogge,  Low  G.  dogge. 
But  in  the  A.  S.  glosses  to  Prudentius,  we  find :  'canum, 
docgena;'  showing  that  the  A.  S.  form  was  docga. 
I  have  supposed  the  word  split  to  be  Scandian;  but 
the  occurrence  in  O.  Friesic  of  the  original  strong 
verb  split-a  renders  it  probable  that  split  may,  after 
all,  be  of  A.  S.  or  Mercian  origin.  The  word  mane 
is  not  in  the  A.  S.  dictionaries,  so  that  I  believed  it 
to  be  a  borrowed  word  from  Scandinavian.  But  the 
publication  (in  1885)  of  Mr.  Sweet's  Oldest  English 
Texts  shows  that  the  A.  S.  form  was  manu,  which 
occurs  in  the  very  old  Erfurt  Glossary.  We  must 
also  bear  in  mind  that  the  Northumbrian  and  Mercian 
of  the  oldest  period  have  almost  entirely  perished." 

So  far  the  results  of  W.  W.  Skeat. 

In  Modern  Philology  for  July,  1908,  W.  H.  Car- 
penter, Professor  in  Columbia  University,  New  York, 
published  an  interesting  article  entitled:  Dutch  Con- 
tributions to  the  Vocabulary  of  English  in  America. 
Dr.  Carpenter  gives  first  an  outline  of  the  history  of 
the  Dutch  settlement  on  Manhattan,  Long  Island, 
along  the  Hudson  River,  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  and 
wherever  they  were  found;  he  tells  that  notwith- 
standing the  short  period  of  the  Dutch  government 
in  New  York,  and  the  overwhelming  influx  of  Eng- 
lish immigrants  into  New  York  City  since  the  Eng- 
lish occupation  in  1664,  yet  the  Dutch  language  was 
maintained  in  many  of  the  smaller  settlements,  and 
to  some  extent  even  in  New  York  City,  where  "down 
to  1764  the  Dutch  language  was  still  used  exclu- 
sively in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  church, 
although  Dutch  had  not  been  taught  for  a  century  in 
the  schools.  In  Flatbush,  on  Long  Island,  Petrus 
van  Steenburgh,  who  was  appointed  schoolmaster  in 
1762,  was  the  first  who  taught  English  in  the  school 


HOW  IT  HAPPENED  87 

that  had  been  established  more  than  a  century  before 
(1659).  He  gave  instruction  nevertheless  in  both 
languages.  His  successor  in  1773,  Anthony  Welp  by 
name,  was  the  last  teacher  who  was  required  to  teach 
Dutch."1 

Under  the  constant  influence  of  English,  this 
American  colonial  Dutch,  like  the  Dutch  of  the  Boers 
in  Africa,  was  of  course  more  and  more  perverted. 
Yet  many  words  of  the  Dutch  settlers  passed  into  the 
English  language  and  the  American-English  "dic- 
tionaries have  considerable  lists  of  words  that  are 
derived  directly  from  borrowings  from  the  Dutch 
language  in  America."2 

Dr.  Carpenter  gives  a  list  of  seventy-six  of  these 
words,  as  follows: 

boss,  n.  master,  patron  (Du.  baas). 

clove,  n.,  cleft,  ravine,  pass  (Du.  kloof}. 

cold'-slaiv ,  cole'-slaiu,  n.,  sliced  cabbage  served  as  a 
salad  (Du.  kool,  cabbage,  slaa  salade,  salad). 

cook'y,  cook'ey,  cook'ie,  n.,  a  small  sweet  cake  (Du. 
koekje). 

cruller,  n.,  a  fried  sweet  cake  (Du.  krullen,  to  curl). 

dom'ine,  dom'inie,  n.,  a  clergyman  (Du.  domine,  a 
Protestant  clergyman). 

dope,  n.,  a  thick  liquid  (Du.  doop,  sauce,  gravy). 

dorp,  n.,  village  (Du.  dorp). 

kill,  n.,  a  creek,  stream,  channel     (Du.  kuil). 

kill' -fish',  kil'li-fisti,  kil'ly-fish',  kil'lie,  n.,  a  fish,  espe- 
cially Fundulus  heteroclitus  (Du.  kil  fish').  The 
Dutch  word  was  doubtless  likvisch. 


1  W.  H.  Carpenter,  "Dutch  Contributions,"  etc.,  in  Modern  Philology, 
July,  1908,  p.   58. 

2  Carpenter,  p.   59. 


88  HOW   IT    HAPPENED 

o'ly-kock' ,  oly-coek',  better  o'ly-cook' ,  pronounced  also 

ol'ly-cook' ,  n.,  a  sweet  cake  fried  in  fat,  a  dough- 
nut (Du.  olie,  oil,  kock,  cake). 
patroon ,   n.,    proprietor   of    a    manor-  (Du.    patroon, 

patron,  master). 
Fink'stcr,   Pin.rtcr,   Ping'stcr,   n.,   Whitsuntide ;   now 

only    in    Pinksterbloom,    Pinksterflower,   the    wild 

azalea    (Du.  Pinkster.     Du.  Pinksterbloem  is  the 

peony). 
Santa    Clans,   Klaus,    n.,    Saint   Nicholas    (Du.    Sant 

Klaas  dim.  of  Kikolaas). 
scow,  n.,  a  flat-bottomed  boat  (Du.  schouw). 
scup,  n.  vb.,  a  swing;  to  swing  (Du.  schop,  schoppen). 
slaiv,  n.,  cabbage  salad  (Du.  slaa  salade). 
speck,  spec,  n.,  pork,  fat  (Du.  spck,  bacon,  fat,  lard). 

The  statement  in  the  STANDARD  that  "the  form 
speck  is  due  partly  to  G.  speck  and  partly  to  D.  spck" 
is  undoubtedly  correct. 

spook,  n.   vb.,  a  ghost,  to  haunt   (Du.  spook). 
Stoop,  n.,  entrance  platform  at  door  of  a  house,  porch 

(Du.  stoep). 
vly,  fly,  vley,  vlei,  vlaic,  n.,  a  swamp,  marsh,  shallow 

pond   (Du.  valid,  valley), 
waffle,  n.,  a  batter  cake   (Du.  wafel). 

The  following  words  are  contained  in  the  two  dic- 
tionaries, but  with  no  suggestion  of  a  Dutch  origin : 
blick'ie,  blick'cy,  n.,  a  tin  pail  (Du.  blikje  (dim.), 

metal  basin,  bowl).     CENTURY   (N.  J.),  but  with 

no    suggestion    of    origin ;    STANDARD,    Penn,    D. 

bleck,   G.   blcch. 

The  ending  -ie,  -ey  shows  indubitably  that  the 
word  has  come  from  the  Dutch  diminutive. 

Tin  blickcy  also  occurs,  with  an  obliteration  of 
the  real  sense  of  blickey. 


HOW  IT   HAPPENED  89 

bush,  n.,  a  wood,  grove,  thicket,  as  in  "sugar-bush," 
"Flatbush"  (Du.  bosch,  same  meaning). 
Neither  the  CENTURY  nor  the  STANDARD  suggests 
a  connection  of  the  word  in  this  meaning  with  Dutch. 
The  usage  is  not  English ;  and  in  the  many  instances 
in  which  the  word  occurs  alone,  e.  g.,  "to  take  to  the 
bush,"  or  as  part  of  a  compound-  in  America  and 
Africa,  e.  g.,  "bushman,"  "bushranger,"  "bush- 
whacker," and  the  like,  it  has  undoubtedly  come  in 
through  Dutch  influence,  exerted  at  one  time  or 
another,  upon  the  vocabulary.  STANDARD:  bosch, 
(S.  Afr.)  with  its  true  signification,  but  does  not 
connect  it  with  the  above  word.  Both  the  phonetic 
form  of  the  original  and  the  presence  of  bush  in  the 
English  vocabulary  have  made  the  thorough  incor- 
poration of  the  word  possible. 

dob'bcr,  n.,  a  fish-line  float  (Du.  dobber,  same  mean- 
ing). STANDARD:  (Local,  U.  S.),  but  no  sugges- 
tion of  Dutch  origin.  Not  in  CENTURY. 
dumb,  adj.,  stupid,  dull  (Du.  dom,  same  meaning). 
CENTURY:  (Local,  U.  S.  In  Pa.  this  use  is  partly 
due  to  the  G.  dumm).  STANDARD:  (Local,  U.  S.) 
Compare  G.  dumm. 

The  word  in  this   sense  has  come  in   from   both 
Dutch  and  German,  according  to  locality,  since  it  is 
used  in  territory  where  there  is  no  thought  of  Ger- 
man  influence,    and   again,   where   there   could   have 
been  no  Dutch  influence  exerted. 
file,  vb.,  to  scrub,  mop,  scour  (Diu  feilen,  same  mean- 
ing).     STANDARD:     (Local,   U.    S.)     Vb.    not   in 
CENTURY. 

file,  n.,  mop  (Du.  fcil  (?),  same  meaning).  CEN- 
TURY: In  some  parts  of  U.  S.,  a  cloth  used  in 
cleaning  or  wiping  the  floor.  Also  filecloth.  Not 
in  STANDARD. 


90  HOW  IT  HAPPENED 

pit,  n.,  the  hard  kernel  of  certain  fruits  (Du.  pit, 
kernel,  pith).  CENTURY:  Variety  of  pip,  by  con- 
fusion with  pit  (U.  S.).  STANDARD:  (U.  S.) 
Variety  of  pip.  . 

slaw  bank,  n.,  a  folding  bed  (Du.  slaap,  sleepbank, 
bench;  compound  Dutch  word  in  same  meaning). 
STANDARD,  no  etymology  suggested.  Not  in  CEN- 
TURY. 

snoop,  vb.,  to  pry  into.  Hudson  and  Mohawk  val- 
leys, to  eat  stealthily  (Du.  snoepen,  to  enjoy 
stealthily,  to  eat  in  secret).  CENTURY:  (Proba- 
bly a  variety  of  snook,  M.  E.  snoken,  to  lurk,  pry 
about).  STANDARD:  (For  snook  L.  G.  snoken, 
search). 

snoop' y,  adj.,  sly,  stealthy  (Du.  snoepig,  same  mean- 
ing).    STANDARD.     Not  in  CENTURY. 
All  of  these  words,  it  may  confidently  be  asserted, 
owe  their  presence  in  the  vocabulary  to  Dutch  influ- 
ence. 

In  the  following  words  the  Dutch  origin  is  cor- 
rectly assumed  by  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  diction- 
aries, but  not  by  both: 

hook,  n.,  point  of  land,  cape  (Du.  hoek,  same  mean- 
ing, e.  g.,  Hoek  van  Holland).  This  sense  of  the 
word  is  Dutch  and  not  English.  STANDARD  has 
correctly  (D.  hoek).  CENTURY  suggests  no  con- 
nection with  Dutch. 

hoop'le,  n.,  a  child's  hoop  for  trundling  (Du.  hoepel 
(dim)  hoop).  CENTURY:  (Dim.  of  hoop,  after 
D.  hoepel).  STANDARD  suggests  no  connection 
with  Dutch. 

Paas,  n.,  Easter  (Du.  Paasch,  same  meaning).  CEN- 
TURY has  correctly  (D.  paasch).  STANDARD: 
(Local,  U.  S.),  but  with  no  suggestion  of  Dutch 
origin. 


HOW  IT  HAPPENED  91 

The  word  also  occurs  in :  Paas-day,  Easter ;  Paas- 
flower,  the  yellow  daffodil. 

wink'le-hawk,    n.,    an    angular    rent    in    cloth    (Du. 
winkelhaak,  a  rent,  tear).    CENTURY  has  correctly 
(D.   winkelhaak).     STANDARD:     (Local,    U.    S.), 
but  with  no  suggestion  of  Dutch  origin. 
Also  occurs  as  wink'le-hole.       , 
"In  the  following  words  the  correct  Dutch  origin 
is  suggested  by  both  dictionaries,  but  is  not  definitely 
assumed  by  either : 

bock'ey,  n.,  a  dish  made  from  a  gourd   (Du.  bakje, 
(dim.),   bowl,   basin).     CENTURY:      Probably   D. 
bakje,  dim.  of  bak.     STANDARD:     (Prov.,  U.  S.), 
but  with  no  assumption  of  Dutch  origin. 
tike,  fyke,  n.,  a  bow-net  (Du.  fuik,  a  hoop-net).   CEN- 
TURY:  fyke  (Perhaps  D.  fuik,  bow-net).    STAND- 
ARD:   Hke  (Local,  U.  S.)     (Perhaps  D.  log.) 
Both   dictionaries,   in   not  taking  account   of   the 
inflected  form,  have  failed  to  reconcile  "logy"  defi- 
nitely with  Dutch  log. 

"The  following  words  are  not  found  in  the  dic- 
tionaries at  all.  It  is  quite  likely  that  many  of  them 
are  in  use  only  in  restricted  localities.  Some  of 
them,  however,  are  widely  distributed  and  are  per- 
fectly vital  parts  of  the  common  vocabulary.  It 
should  undoubtedly  be  possible  to  add  still  further  to 
this  list,  which,  as  has  been  said,  is  only  tentative. 
The  new  words  in  their  usual  orthography  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

afease',  afeese',  adj.  vide  fease. 

aw're-griet'chies,  n.  pi.,  maize  coarsely  ground  (Du. 
aar,  ear  of  corn;  grutjes  (dim.),  grits).  Hudson 
valley. 

bedrooft',  bedrowft',  bedruft' ,  adj.,  miserable,  de- 
spondent (contempt),  sad,  sorrowful,  gloomy 
(Du.  bedroefd,  same  meaning).  Hudson  valley. 


92  HOW   IT   HAPPENED 

binnacle,  binnakill,  bcn'nakill,  n.,  the  smaller  chan- 
nel of  a  river  running  back  from  the  main  stream 
(Du.  binneri,  within,  kil,  channel). 

Kil  acquires  in  America,  where  it  very  frequently 
occurs  in  place-names  and  as  a  common  appellative, 
a  meaning  which  it  apparently  never  had  at  home, 
viz.,  brook,  stream,  river;  but  it  also  is  used  in  its 
original  signification,  as  in  Arthur  Kill,  i.  e.,  achter 
kil,  back  channel.  Widely  used.  John  Burroughs, 
"Pepacton";  "binocle,  a  still,  miry  place  at  the  head 
of  a  big  eddy ;"  vide  also  communication  to  the 
Evening  Post,  February  22,  1901,  by  Edward  Fitch. 
blawk ' cr,  n.,  a  flat  bedroom  candlestick  (Du.  blaaker, 

blakcr,  same  meaning).     Hudson  valley. 
blum'mie,      blummey,     n.,     flower,      blossom      (Du. 

bloempje   (dim.),  same  meaning).     Mohawk  val- 
ley. 
blum'niachic,     n.,    flower,    blossom     (Du.    bloemetje 

(dim.),  same  meaning).     Mohawk  valley. 
boond'er,    v.,     to    brush     away,     drive    away     (Du. 

boenderen,  to  scrub,  brush).     Hudson  valley. 
clip,  adj.,   stony    (Du.   klip,   rock,  cliff).      STANDARD 

DICTIONARY:  klip  (S.  Afr.),  a  rock  or  stone,  cliff, 

mountain.     Hudson  valley. 
coss,  n.,  wardrobe,  chest  of  drawers  (Du.  kas,  chest; 

kast,  cupboard,  closet).     Hudson  valley. 
door  slag,  n.,  colander,  strainer   (Du.  door  slag,  same 

meaning).     Schenectady  Co. 

fease,  feese,  adj.,  disgusting  (Du.  vies,  nauseous,  dis- 
gusting). To  be  fease  of  a  thing  or  person:  e.  g., 

I  am  fease  of  him,  he  disgusts  me ;  I  am  fease  of 

it,    etc.,    which    coincides   with    the    Dutch    usage. 

Widely  distributed. 

Occurs  also  as  afease. 


HOW  IT   HAPPENED  93 

geheist' ',  p.  p.  as  adj.,  overreached,  e.  g.,  "he's 
gehesit,"  he  has  overreached  himself  (Du. 
gehuisd,  housed,  lodged,  domiciled).  Hudson  val- 
ley. 

grill 'y,  adj.,  chill,  raw,  e.  g.,  uto-day  is  so  grilly  that  I 
shall  not  go  out"  (Du.  grillig,  same  meaning). 
Hudson  valley. 

herk'ies,  hcrk'cys,  n.  pi.,  haunches,  e.  g.,  "squat  down 
on  your  herkies"  (Du.  hurk:  op  de  hurken  zitten, 
to  squat;  hnrkjes  (dim.).)  Schenectady  Co. 

hock'ies,  hock' ens,  n.  pi.,  soused  pigsbones,  i.  e.,  the 
joints- above  the  pochies,  q.  v.  (Du.  hakjes  (dim.) 
pasterns,  hocks).  Hudson  valley. 

kip,  n.,  a  word  used  in  calling  chickens,  e.  g.,  "come 
kip,  kip!"  (Du.  kip.  hen,  fowl.)  Schnectady  Co. 

konkcpot' ' ,  n.,  gossip,  huzzy,  scold,  e.  .g.,  bedrufter 
konkepot,  a  miserable  scold  (Du.  honhelpot,  same 
meaning).  Hudson  valley. 

lop' pic,  lap'pcy,  n.,  small  mat  made  of  rags  (Du. 
lapje  (dim.),  rag,  shred,  remnant).  Hudson  val- 
ley. 

nwl'lykite',  n.,  foolishness  (Du.  malligheid,  softness, 
mildness,  weakness).  Hudson  valley. 

mont,  n.,  basket  (Du.  mand,  same  meaning).  Hud- 
son valley.  Schenectady  Co. 

niskeery,  adj.,  curious,  inquisitive  (Du,  nicuivsgicrig, 
same  meaning) .  Hudson  valley. 

off'doch,  n.,  inclosed  stoop  (Du.  afdak,  shed,  pent- 
house). Schenectady  Co. 

plock,  v.,  to  settle  down  (Du.  plakken,  to  remain  sit- 
ting, to  stay  long).  Hudson  valley. 

poch'ies,  poch'eys,  n.  pi.,  soused  pigsknuckles,  i.  e.,  the 
joints  above  the  toes  (Du.  pootjes  (dim.)  feet). 
Hudson  valley. 


94  HOW  IT   HAPPENED 

poos' ly,  adv.,  tolerably,  indifferently  well  (Du. 
passelijk,  same  meaning).  Hudson  valley. 

prat'chie,  prat'chey,  n.,  talk,  gossip  (Du.  praatje 
(dim.),  same  meaning).  Hudson  valley. 

proyt'el,  v.,  to  boil  softly,  to  chatter,  to  prattle  (Du. 
preutelen,  to  boil,  to  grumble).  Hudson  valley. 

proyt'ler,  n.,  pratter  (Du.  preutelaar,  grumbler). 
Hudson  valley. 

pummel-ap'pelye,   n.,   the   berry   of   the   wintergreen 
(Gaultheria    procumbens),     (Du.    pommel,    plant 
appeltje  (dim.),  apple).     Hudson  valley. 

slob,  n.,  bib  (Du.  slobbe,  same  meaning).  Hudson 
valley. 

stuck,  n.,  swallow,  draught  (Du.  slock,  same  mean- 
ing). Schenectady  Co. 

spree,  n.,  a  homewoven  bed-quilt,  usually  blue  and 
white  (Du.  sprei,  counterpane,  coverlet).  Hudson 
valley. 

stone '-razvp'ie,    -rawp'y,    storiy-rawp'ie,    n.,    a    stony 
field  (stone  +  Du.  raapje  (dim.)   (turnip)  field;  cf. 
raapland,  raapakker,  raapier). 
STONE  ARABIA,   Montgomery    Co.,   is    apparently 

this  word,  although  the  connection  does  not  seem  to 

have  been  noticed.     The  Dutch  word  was  doubtless 

steenraapje. 

unnozel,  adj.,  silly,  simple  (Du.  onnoozel,  same  mean- 
ing). Hudson  valley. 

Wurst,  wust,  n.,  sausage  (Du.  worst,  same  meaning). 
Schenectady  Co.  and  Hudson  valley.    Widely  dis- 
tributed. 
The  word  in  U.  S.  is  due  partly  to  Dutch  worst 

and  German  zvurst." 

So  far  Dr.  Carpenter. 

The  conclusion  from  all  the  material  till  this  time 
brought     together     by     Skeat,     Carpenter,     Douglas 


HOW   IT   HAPPENED  95 

Campbell,  Thorold  Rogers  and  many  historians  is 
this :  From  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror  in  the 
eleventh  century,  when  Flemish  soldiers  and  Flemish 
weavers  were  brought  over  to  England,  till  the  time 
of  Prince  William  III  of  Orange,  who  brought  about 
the  glorious  revolution  of  1688  to  protect  and  confirm 
forever  the  rights  of  the  English  people,  Holland  has 
been  all. the  time  in  close  contact  with  England.  Dur- 
ing these  more,  than  six  hundred  years  the  people  of 
the  Low  Countries  have  exerted  an  influence  on  the 
English  people  in  general  civilization,  in  learning,  in 
trade,  in  industry,  in  agriculture,  in  art,  in  literature, 
and  in  nearly  every  part  of  human  life.  In  a  word, 
the  world  power  of  Holland  was  previous  to  that  of 
England:  Holland  was  ahead  in  nearly  everything; 
England's  time  of  glory  and  of  world  power  suc- 
ceeded that  of  Holland,  and  so  it  can  be  easily  under- 
stood why  many  Dutch  words  and  terms  became  part 
of  the  English  language. 

For  the  same  reasons  we  can  understand  that  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  when  Holland  had  for  a  long 
time  lost  its  glorious  position,  while  England  was 
developing  into  a  world  empire,  the  influence  of  Eng- 
land on  Holland  became  more  important,  and  not  the 
least  on  Dutch  language  and  literature. 

The  position  of  Holland  in  the  world's  history, 
especially  from  the  year  1200  till  the  year  1700,  is 
indeed  sufficient  to  explain  everything.  A  position  in 
the  history  of  Europe  and  of  all  the  world  which 
Thorold  Rogers  describes  in  this  way:  "The  debt  of 
modern  Europe  to  Holland  is  by  no  means  limited 
to  the  lessons  which  it  taught  as  to  the  true  purposes 
of  civil  government.  It  taught  Europe  nearly  every- 
thing else.  It  instructed  communities  in  progressive 
and  rational  agriculture.  It  was  the  pioneer  in  navi- 


9G  HOW   IT   HAPPENED 

gation  and  in  discovery ;  and,  according  to  the  lights 
of  the  age,  was  the  founder  of  intelligent  commerce. 
It  produced  the  greatest  jurists  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  It  was  preeminent  in  the  arts  of  peace.  The 
presses  of  Holland  put  forth  more  books  than  all  the 
rest  of  Europe  did.  It  had  the  most  learned  scholars. 
The  languages  of  the  East  were  first  given  to  the 
world  by  Dutchmen.  It  was  foremost  in  physical  re- 
search, in  rational  medicine.  It  instructed  statesmen 
in  finance,  traders  in  banking  and  credit,  philosophers 
in  speculative  sciences.  For  a  long  time  that  little 
storm-vexed  nook  of  North-western  Europe  was  the 
university,  of  the  civilized  world,  the  centre  of  Euro- 
pean trade,  the  admiration,  the  envy,  the  example  of 
nations."1 

In  the  researches  of  W.  W.  Skeat  this  general 
position  of  Holland  in  the  world's  history  is  referred 
to,  but  is  far  from  being  fully  recognized.  And  while 
this  eminent  scholar,  as  stated  above,  does  not  realize 
the  influence  of  the  religious  persecutions  in  Holland 
as  well  as  in  England,  on  the  other  side  he  over- 
estimates the  influence  of  the  gypsies.  The  English 
refugees  came  into  close  contact  with  the  Dutch  peo- 
ple ;  so  did  the  English  soldiers  serving  in  Dutch 
armies,  and  the  Dutch  refugees  in  England,  as  well 
as  the  Dutch  traders  and  settlers  in  England's  eastern 
districts,  had  permanent  contact  with  the  English  peo- 
ple. But  the  gypsies  never  and  nowhere  came  into 
close  and  intimate  contact  with  the  nations  in  whose 
country  they  lived  for  a  short  time;  their  life  was  a 
separate  one,  and  their  influence  in  bringing  Dutch 
words  to  England  can  easily  be  overestimated. 

1  James  E.  Thorold  Rogers,  Holland.  In  the  Historv  of  Nations, 
Preface.  Thorold  Rogers  is  a  well  known  English  scholar  "and  professor 
in  the  University  of  Oxford. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  INFLUENCE  WHICH  HOLLAND  HAS  EXERTED  ON 
THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE 

Foreign  elements  never  had  any  considerable  in- 
fluence either  on  the  grammar  or  on  the  syntax,  but 
their  effect  was  mostly  confined  to  the  introduction 
of  a  small  or  a  large  number  of  words.  Even  the 
influence  of  the  French  language  of  the  Norman  con- 
querors, which  was  the  official  language  in  England 
during  more  than  three  hundred  years,  has  not 
changed  very  much  the  grammar  or  the  syntax  of 
English. 

But  the  influx  of  French  words  was  enormous. 
So,  if  Holland  has  exerted  some  influence  on  the 
English  language,  that  influence  is  not  likely  to  be 
found  in  the  introduction  of  alterations  in  English 
grammar  or  syntax  but  is  to  be  sought  in  the  vocab- 
ulary of  the  English  language. 

More  recently  than  the  researches  of  Skeat  and 
Carpenter,  a  Dutch  scholar,  W.  de  Hoog,  has  pub- 
lished a  remarkable  list  of  words,  in  alphabetic  order, 
which  have  been  introduced  into  the  English  language 
by  the  Dutch.  De  Hoog  does  not  take  the  English 
language  as  it  is  in  any  one  period  of  history,  but  as 
it  is  to  be  found  in  all  English  literature.  Conse- 
quently some  of  these  words,  which  were  at  one  time 
used  by  the  best  authors,  are  in  our  time  hardly  un- 
derstood even  by  scholars.  But  nevertheless  they 
occur  in  works  belonging  to  English  literature  and 

7  97 


98       WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

therefore  Mr.  de  Hoog  was  perfectly  right  to  include 
them  in  his  list. 

I  give  the  list  of  words  as  Mr.  de  Hoog  published 
it,  with  this  difference  only,  that  I  have  translated 
his  explanations  from  Dutch  into  English.  About 
some  words  there  may  arise  doubts,  but  such  doubts 
are  always  found  in  etymological  studies,  and  it  lies 
in  the  very  nature  of  this  field  of  study  to  give  in 
many  cases  room  for  some  difference  of  opinion. 
Anyhow  I  give  this  list  as  it  is:  viz.,  as  constructed 
by  the  scholarly  hand  of  Mr.  de  Hoog,  and  as  the 
best  list  existing  at  this  moment.  The  purpose  of 
this  little  volume  is  not  to  specialize  in  etymology, 
but  to  call  the  attention  of  American  scholars  to  one 
more  argument  showing  that  there  is  an  interesting 
field  for  research  in  Dutch  History,  Art,  Literature 
and  Language,  a  broad  and  beautiful  field  which  up 
to  this  time  has  been  almost  totally  neglected,  even 
in  the  greatest  Universities  of  America.  The  vast 
progress  of  etymology  in  our  days  gives  abundant 
hope  that  within  a  few  years  a  better  list  may  be 
published  by  some  scholar  who  may  begin  his  re- 
searches with  the  results  of  Skeat,  Carpenter  and 
de  Hoog.  This  list  contains  448  words : 
aamf  other  Eng.  forms  ame,  aivm,  aume.  D.  aam. 
Ger.  ahm}  ohm.  L.  Lat.  ama.  A  measure  of 
liquids,  particularly  of  wine,  containing  about  40 
gallons.  The  measure  varied  in  different  cities 
(Antwerp,  Dordrecht,  etc.). 

aardvark — earth  pig.  An  edentate  mammal  in  South 
Africa,  feeding  on  ants.  The  name  originated  with 
the  Dutch  settlers  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  who 
thought  the  animal  resembled  a  pig. 
aardwolf,  a  South  African  carnivorous  quadruped,  liv- 
ing in  holes  in  the  ground.  Named  by  the  Dutch 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      99 

settlers  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  who  thought  it 
resembled  a  wolf. 

after  dele — <lis-advantage.  cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard. 
From  M.  D.  achterdeel. 

afterfeet — hind  leg.  cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard.  From 
M.  D.  afterste  voet. 

ahoy.  Interjection,  cf.  Ship  ahoy!  'A  naval  expres- 
sion used  to  hail  ships.  "A"  intensifies  the  mean- 
ing. From  D.  hui!  cf.  H.  G.  hui. 

aloof — on  a  distance,  cf.  to  hold  aloof,  to  stand  aloof, 
a — on  cf.  afoot,  asleep,  abed;  on  loof,  D.  te  loef, 
te  locve  ivaart,  te  loevert,  te  loever — against  the 
wind.  cf.  Eng.  to  luff,  to  loof. 

am  el  corn — an  inferior  variety  of  wheat.  From  D. 
amelkoren,  a  kind  of  wheat ;  the  meaning  of  the 
word  is  unground  grain,  cf.  Lat.  amylum. 

anker — a  liquid  measure  of  8  to  10  gallons.  Formerly 
used  in  England.  Fr.  ancre.  M.  Lat.  ancheriam 
(ia),  a  small  Carrel.  A  measure  of  wine  and  fish. 
D.  anker.  The  English  spelling  also  shows  its 
Dutch  origin.  The  ultimate  origin  of  this  word  is 
uncertain. 

Armenian — an  adherent  of  the  doctrine  of  Arminius. 
From  D.  Arminiaan.  Arminius  rejected  the  doc- 
trine of  predestination.  Arminius  is  the  Latin 
name  for  Harmensen. 

arquebus — a  kind  of  gun.  From  Fr.  arquebus e,  taken 
from  the  original  D.  haakbus.  haak-hook.  These 
guns  had  a  hook  under  the  barrel.  M.  D.  haec- 
busse.  cf.  Eng.  hackbut,  bus,  bowse,  harquebus. 

avast — stop !  cf.  avast  heaving.  A  naval  expression 
from  D.  hou  vast!  It  is  found,  for  example,  in 
"Poor  Jack",  a  sailor's  song  by  Charles  Dibdin 
(1745-1814): 


100      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

Avast !  nor  don't  think  me  a  milksop  so  soft, 

To  be  taken  for  trifles  aback ; 
For  they  say  there's  a  Providence  sits  up  aloft, 
To  keep  watch  for  the  life  of  poor  Jack! 

back,  beck,  bawke — a  large  shallow  vessel,  a  vat,  a 
tub,  bucket,  a  vessel  used  in  brewing.  From  D. 
bak. 

balked — became  angry,  cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard. 
From  M.  D.  balch — past  tense  of  belgen — to  swell. 
Cf.  D.  verbolgen,  blaasbalg. 

balk  en — to  signify  to  fishing-boats  the  direction  taken 
by  the  shoals  of  herrings,  as  seen  from  a  height. 
From  D.  balken.  A.  S.  bealcian.  Eng.  to  belch. 

to  bale  (bail) — to  empty  water  out  of  a  ship  by  means 
of  bails  (or  buckets).  It  is  found  in  Hackluyt's 
Voyages  "Having  freed  our  ship  thereof  (of 
water)  with  baling."  As  a  substantive  it  is  sel- 
dom (but  already  in  1466)  found  in  Eng.  Cf. 
The  bail  of  a  canoe  made  of  a  human  skull  (Capt. 
Cook,  1772).  In  D.  balie,  in  Belgium  also  bale, 
baal.  Not  found  in  M.  D.,  and  perhaps  taken  from 
the  Fr.  substantive  bailie — tub.  The  Eng.  word 
"to  bale"  is  probably  taken  from  the  D.  baalien, 
though  the  resemblance  is  closer  in  spelling  than 
in  pronunciation.  In  D.  it  is  often  found.  Cf. 
Toen  vielen  zy  met  alle  macht  aan  het  baalien. 
(Brandt.  De  Ruyter  487).  Wy  sat  en  aan  den 
bak  .  .  .  een  groote  balie  met  snert.  (Marine- 
Schetsen  by  Werumeus  Buning).  Cf.  baliemand. 
The  derivation  is  as  yet  uncertain. 

ballast — a  load  of  sand,  stone,  iron,  etc.,  to  steady  a 
ship.  Dan.  ballast,  baglast;  Sw.  barlast.  In  Eng. 
not  much  used,  seldom  figuratively.  "It  is  charity 
must  ballast  (steady)  the  heart"  (Hammond).  In 
Eng.  and  D.  used  only  since  the  I5th  century. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND    EXERTED      101 

For  example,  in  Hackluyt's  Voyages  and  in  Char- 
ters of  Amsterdam  A°i544.  The  oldest  form  is 
"barlast"  in  older  Swedish  and  Danish.  Accord- 
ing to  Kluge  and  Murray,  barlast — bare  last — 
bloote  last,  a  load  (-last)  which  has  no  value  itself, 
as  distinguished  from  the  real  load.  According 
to  others  bal(e)  means  useless.  Cf.  D.  baldadig. 
In  D.  ballast — sand,  stones,  iron,  etc.,  which  is 
laid  in  the  ship  to  give  the  necessary  stability,  so 
that,  even  without  other  load,  the  ship  will  not  be 
in  danger  of  capsizing.  The  figurative  meaning 
in  D.  proves  that  it  has  been  in  use  formerly,  and 
that  the  meaning  of  "strength"  had  been  lost  al- 
ready to  make  place  for  that  of  "nuisance."  Cf. 
Zet's  zverelds  ballast  aan  een  sy  (De  Dekker). 
Probably  it  will  be  proved  ultimately  that  the  word 
is  not  a  compound  but  a  derivative.  Cf.  Eng.  to 
ballast,  ballastage,  ballaster. 

bay — baize.  Introduced  into  Eng.  in  the  i6th  cen- 
tury. From  D.  baai,  and  this  from  O.  Fr.  bale. 

to  bedrive — to  commit,  to  do.  1481  Caxton,  Reynard. 
From  M.  D.  bedriven,  to  act,  to  do. 

to  bedivynge — to  restrain.  Cf.  14^80  Caxton's  Ovid. 
From  M.  D.  bedztringen — to  necessitate,  to  domi- 
nate. 

beer — mole,  pier.     From  D.  beer — dam. 

belay — to  fasten  a  rope  by  wrapping  it  round  and 
round  a  couple  of  pins.  As  a  nautical  term  it 
first  appears  in  the  Complaint  of  Scotland,  1549. 
It  is  probably  derived  from  the  D.  beleggen.  M. 
D.  beleggen.  beleggen — to  fasten  ropes  to  some- 
thing, fig.  to  fasten,  cf.  D.  geld  beleggen.  An 
Eng.  verb  to  belay,  M.  D.  beleggen,  with  the  mean- 
ing of  to  besiege  is  found  already  in  Gower  and 
Spenser. 


102     WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

to  beleaguer — to  besiege.  It  appears  not  to  have  been 
used  till  1590.  Sir  J.  Smythe,  Weapons.  From 
D.  belegeren  (from  the  substantive  leger 
(arniy) — to  encamp  around  a  city  in  order  to 
conquer  it.  Cf.  Sw.  bclagra — to  besiege.  Eng. 
leaguer. 

to  berisp — to  censure.  Cf.  1481  Caxton,  Reynard. 
From  M.  D.  berispen — to  scold,  to  reproach. 

biltong — strips  of  meat  dried  in  the  sun.  South  Afri- 
can. Also  called  bultong.  From  D.  bil  +  tong. 
It  looks  much  like  an  ox-tongue. 

bias — J.  B.  Van  Helmont's  term  for  a  supposed  influ- 
ence of  the  stars,  producing  changes  of  weather. 
From  D.  bias. 

bluff — downright  rude,  frank.  In  Eng.  used  for  the 
first  time  in  1627.  Cf.  a  bluff  point  or  bluff — a 
steep  bank  of  rocks  (1790  Cook's  voyages).  Bluff 
King  Hall;  a  bluff  shore  (Falconer).  A  bluff 
sea-captain  (W.  Scott).  Perhaps  the  same  as  the 
D.  blaf — flat  wide,  given  by  Kiliaan  1599;  D. 
blaffer — a  clamorous  proud  person. 

blunderbus — a  short  gun  with  a  large  bore;  blunder 
derived  from  D.  "donder"  (-blunder)  because  of 
the  firing  at  random  of  this  weapon.  From  D. 
donderbus. 

boil — a  hard  tumour,  a  swelling.  Cf.  (1481  Caxton, 
Reynard)  two  grcte  bales.  From  M.  D.  bide,  D. 
buil,  cf.  Eng.  beal,  M.  E.  bele,  from  O.  Norw. 
beyla. 

bomespar — a  spar  of  the  larger  kind.  From  D. 
boomspar.  boom — a  beam,  a  pole,  barrier,  cf. 
Howell,  Letters,  1650,  p.  215.  A  naval  expres- 
sion. From  D.  boom.  Cf.  Eng.  jibboom. 

boor,  boer — a  peasant,  a  tiller  of  the  soil.  Cf.  boor- 
ish; the  Boors — the  Dutch  speaking  settlers  of 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED     103 

South  Africa.  Already  in  " Beaumont  en  Fletch- 
er's Beggars'  Bush,"  1622.  Derived  from  D.  boer 
with  dialectic  oe  instead  of  ii — buurtgenoot.  Boer 
is  etymologically  the  same  as  buur.  Cf.  Eng. 
neighbour. 

border — an  edge.  M.  Eng.  bordure.  From  Fr. 
bordure,  which  is  derived  from  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D. 
boord. 

boussyng,  bonssinc — a  polecat.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton, 
Reynard.  From  M.  D.  bonsinc,  bonsem,  boesinc. 
D.  bunsing. 

bosch — bosh — Bosch  butter — artificial  butter  manufac- 
tured at  's  Hertogenbosch  or  den  Bosch  in  Hol- 
land: butterine.  From  D.  Bosch,  's  Hertogen- 
bosch. 

boss — leading  man,  master,  chief.  Frequently  used 
in  America.  Cf.  Eng.  to  boss  it.  From  D.  baas. 

boss,  bass — a  plasterer's  tray,  a  hod.  From  M.  D. 
bosse,  busse,  bus,  pot.,  cf.  Eng.  box. 

to  botch — to  patch.  Already  in  Wycliff,  1382  ((eche 
feble  thingus  thei  bacchyn"  (repaired).  From  O. 
L.  G.  botze,  cf.  D.  botsen — intens.  of  boeten.  M. 
D.  boeten  (-to  repair),  cf.  D.  netten  boeten,  ketel- 
boeter. 

bottomry — a  mortgage  on  a  ship.  From  D.  bodetnery 
— lit.  to  lend  money  on  the  bottom  of  a  ship — to 
lend  money  on  a  ship  or  its  cargo,  especially  in  a 
foreign  harbor,  when  the  ship  has  been  damaged 
and  needs  repair. 

to  bounce — to  knock,  to  jump  up  quickly.  M.  Eng. 
bunsen,  bounsen  (to  strike  suddenly).  From  O. 
L.  G.  bunsen.  Perhaps  it  is  an  onomatopoetic. 
D.  bonzen. 

bouse,  boose,  bouse,  booze — to  drink  deeply.  M.  Eng. 
bousen.  Cf.  Spenser,  A  bouzing  can — a  drinking 


104       WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

vessel.  Slang;  boozy — drunk,  intoxicated.  From 
D.  "buizen".  M.  D.  busen.  D.  "buis"  (intoxi- 
cated). The  D.  buizen  is  derived  from  O.  Fr. 
buse,  cf.  M.  D.  buse — cup,  vase  and  finally  small 
ship.  Cf.  D.  haringbuiSj  Eng.  buss. 

bowery — a  farm.     From  D.  bouwerij. 

bowse — a  harquebus.     Cf.  Eng.  arquebus. 

boy — a  youngster.  M.  Eng.  boy,  boi.  From  O.  L. 
G.,  Fries,  boy.  Cf.  D.  boef.  M.  D.  boef — young 
man,  knave.  Cf.  stalboef. 

to  brabble — to  quarrel.  Cf.  brabble,  a  brabbler.  From 
D.  brabbelen — onomatopoeia.  In  Marieken  of 
Nymegen  brabbelinghe  is  found  with  the  mean- 
ing; nonsense.  Cf.  The  Story  of  Mary  of  Nim- 
wegen,  1510.  Cf.  D.  Roemer  Visser's  Brabbel- 
ing. 

brack,  brackish — somewhat  salt,  briny,  said  of  water. 
North's  Plutarch,  p.  471.  In  Gawain  Douglas  we 
find  D.  brak — brackish.  Cf.  M.  D.  brae.  From 
D.  brak.  The  derivation  uncertain. 

brake — a  bush,  thicket.  M.  Eng.  brake.  From  O.  L. 
G.  Fries,  brake,  cf.  D.  braakland. 

brake — a  machine  for  breaking  hemp;  a  contrivance 
for  confining  refractory  horses;  a  name  for  vari- 
ous mechanical  contrivances.  M.  Eng.  brake.  Cf. 
M.  D.  brake,  a  contrivance  to  fasten  horses.  From 
O.  L.  G.,  cf.  D.  braak. 

brandy — an  ardent  spirit.  From  brande-wine,  brandy- 
wine.  In  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  Beggars  Bush 
1622.  From  D.  brandewyn,  brandwijn,  distilled 
wine. 

branskate — to  put  a  place  to  ransom,  or  subject  to 
a  payment,  in  order  to  avoid  pillage  or  destruc- 
tion. From  D.  brandschatten. 

brantcorn — blight,  smut.  From  D.  brandkoren.  Name 
of  disease  of  grain,  caused  by  a  kind  of  fungus. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED      105 

brasscm — a  kind  of  fish.  A  dark-olive  colored  river 
fish.  D.  brasem.  Cf.  Eng.  bream. 

brick — a  lump  of  baked  clay.  M.  Eng.  brique.  From 
Fr.  brique,  which  is  derived  from  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D. 
breken. 

to  br older — to  adorn  with  needlework.  M.  Eng. 
broder.  From  Fr.  broder,  which  is  derived  from 
O.  L.  G.,  cf.  D.  boord. 

brokes — customs.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard.  From 
D.  bruke — gebrink  (use,  custom). 

bruges,  brudges — name  of  a  city  in  Flanders.  Cf. 
bruges,  satin.  From  D.  Brugge. 

bruin — bear.  In  the  M.  D.  poem  and  the  prose  work 
"Van  den  Vos  Reinaerde"  the  bear  is  called 
"bruin" — brown  because  of  its  color.  In  William 
Caxton's  Translation  "Reynard  the  Fox,"  1481, 
the  word  is  spelled  bruine,  brunne,  bruyn. 

bulk — the  trunk  of  the  body,  heap,  cargo.  Cf.  Shake- 
speare. From  O.  L.  G.  bulcke,  cf.  Kiliaen. 

bully — brother,  darling,  fine  fellow,  protector  of  a 
prostitute,  ruffian.  From  M.  D.  bo  el — brother, 
darling. 

bumkin — a  vessel.  Cf.  1697  Dampier  Voyages.  From 
M.  D.  bomekyn — a  small  vessel. 

bumkin — luff-bloc.  A  naval  term.  From  D.  bumkin, 
boomkin,  boomke. 

bumpkin,  Perhaps  the  same  word  as  bumkin, 
boomke,  a  piece  of  wood ;  metaphorically  a  block- 
head or  bumkin,  bommekyn.  Cf.  a  country  bum- 
kin,  Dryden's  Juvenal  Satires. 

bunting-crow — the  hooded  crow.  From  D.  bonte-kraai, 
also  thinking  of  bunting. 

buoy — a  floating  piece  of  wood  fastened  down.  Prop- 
erly a  barrel  fastened  by  a  buoy.  From  D.  boei, 
which  is  derived  from  Lat.  boia  or  less  probably 
from  O.  Fr.  boye. 


106      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

burgher — a  European  male,  no  matter  where  resi- 
dent, who  is  in  the  possession  of  the  franchise 
•  and  liable  to  all  public  duties.  First  found  in  the 
1 6th  century.  Cf.  burgher  ship.  D.  burger. 

burgher  master.  Burgomaster — a  chief  magistrate  of  a 
town.  Cf .  Hackhiyt— -Voyages.  From  D.  burge- 
meester;  burg — town.  Cf.  Eng.  borough;  Canter- 
bury; boroughmaster. 

bus — a  harquebus.     Cf.  arquebus. 

Buschbome — boxwood,  box.  From  M.  D.  busboom, 
bosboom,  boksboom. 

bush — a  metal  box.  From  D.  bus — case.  Cf.  Eng. 
box. 

bushbuck — a  small  species  of  African  antelope.  From 
D.  bosch-bok. 

bushman,  Bosjesman — a  tribe  of  aborigines  near  the 
Cape  of  Good  Flope.  From  D.  Bosch jesman. 

buskin — a  kind  of  legging.  In  Spenser,  Shakespeare, 
Milton  and  also  earlier.  From  D.  borsekin — 
leather  bag.  According  to  some  people  cognate 
with  D.  broos — boot.  Cf.  Dees  wil  liefst  met 
Thalie  en  lage  broosjes  u'andelen.  Die  stapt  met 
Melpomeen  op  hooge  laarsen  voort.  (Smits.) 
Others  say  that  buskin  is  derived  from  Fr. 
bousequin,  a  secondary  form  of  brodcquin,  brois- 
sequin — buskin. 

butterham — a  slice  of  bread  and  butter.  From  D. 
boterham. 

by  slabbed — befouled.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard. 
From  M.  D.  beslabben — to  make  dirty.  Cf.  D. 
slabbetje. 

caboose — the  cook's  cabin  on  board  ship.  Sometimes 
spelt  camboose.  Dan.  kabys.  N.  G.  kabuse.  Fr. 
cambuse.  From  D.  kombius}  kabuis.  Used  first 
in  Eng.  in  the  midst  of  the  i8th  century,  as  a 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      107 

maritime  term.     Probably  derived  from  the  Celt. 

cab.    Cf.  Fr.  cabane,  Eng.  cabin, 
cambric — kind  of  fine  white  linen.    In  1530  the  form: 

cameryk,    later,    camariek,    cambric.     From    the 

name   Cambray — Kameryk.     Cf.  Kamerdoek. 
cant — edge,    corner,    to    cant — to  x  incline.      M.    Eng. 

cante.     1603   Ben   Jonson:   in  a  cant.     From  D. 

kant.     Cf.  D.  kantelen.     D.  kant  is  derived  from 

Fr.  Cant.     Cf.  Lat.  cantus,  and  canthus. 
canty — Northern  dialects:  cheerful,  active.     Cf.  John 

Anderson,  my  Jo,  John 

We  clamb  the  hill  thegither; 

And  monie  a  canty  day,  John, 
We've  had  wi'  ane  anither. 

(BURNS) 

From  D.  Kantig — sharp,  prepared,  ready,  nice, 
fine.  Cf.  D.  kant. 

cardcl — a  hogshead  used  in  the  Dutch  whaling  trade. 
Cf.  Eng.  quardecl.  From  D.  kardeel,  quardcel — a 
fourth  of  a  barrel. 

cartoiv — a  kind  of  cannon,  a  quartercannon,  which 
threw  a  ball  of  a  quarter  of  a  hundred-weight. 
From  D.  Kartonw — a  kind  of  cannon. 

catkin — an  inflorescence  consisting  of  rows  of  flow- 
ers. From  D.  katteken,  katje  (of  willows,  etc.). 

to  cave  in — to  fall  in.  Used  when  men  are  digging, 
and  a  portion  of  a  wall  falls  in.  Lincolnshire  dia- 
lect. To  cave — to  calve  in.  Cf.  half-penny  and 
the  pronunciation  of  this  word.  From  Flemish 
inkalven.  Fries,  kalven — to  produce  a  calf.  The 
word  was  introduced  into  England  by  English 
navvies. 

cavie — a  hen-coop,  a  house  for  fowls.  From  D.  kavie, 
kerne. 


108      WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

choice — a  selection.  M.  Eng.  chois,  choys,  which 
took  the  place  of  M.  Eng.  klre,  cure.  From  O. 
Fr.  chois,  which  is  derived  from  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D. 
kiezen,  keuze. 

to  chuck — to  strike  gently,  to  toss.  From  Fr.  choquer, 
which  is  derived  from  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D.  schokken. 

a  clamp — a  clasp.  To  clamp — to  fasten  tightly,  to 
heap  up.  M.  Eng.  clamp.  Cf.  Bible,  Exod.  Ch. 
36.  From  D.  klamp — hook.  Klamp  is  a  second- 
ary form  of  klam.  Cf.  D.  klemmen.  Clamp  (dia- 
lectic)— a  heap  of  stones,  bricks,  peat.  This 
meaning  only  since  1596.  From  D.  klamp.  In 
Flemish  people  still  talk  about  a  "klamp"  stones. 
M.  D.  hoy  te  setten  in  dampen — hay  in  stacks. 
This  "clamp''  is  perhaps  the  same  word,  and  also 
cognate  with  D.  klemmen. 

clinker — hardened  brick  of  pale  colour  made  in  Hol- 
land; a  hard  brick.  Cf.  1641,  Evelyn — Diary. 
From  D.  klinker,  klinkaard,  klinkerd — a  stone 
which  gives  a  sound  (-D.  klinkt). 

elope — a  blow,  a  knock.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard. 
From  M.  D.  clop — a  blow.  Cf.  kloppen.  Flemish 
— klop  geven;  den  godsklop  geven. 

to  closh — to  bowl ;  a  kind  of  game.  From  M.  D. 
closse,  clos,  ball.  Cf.  D.  klos;  klosbeitel. 

clove — a  rocky  cleft.     From  M.  D.  clove.    D.  kloof. 

clump — wooden  sole,  wooden  shoe.     From  D.  klomp. 

to  clunter,  a  clunter — to  run  together ;  a  lump.  Mostly 
dial.  Cheshire  and  Yorkshire.  From  D.  klonter, 
klont. 

cluse — a  monastic  cell.'     Cf.   1481,  Caxton,  Reynard. 

From  M.  D.  cluse — kluis. 
cockle — a  furnace  of  a  hop  kiln;  a  stove.     From  M. 

D.  kakele,  D.  kachel. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      109 

to  cope — to  buy.     M.  Eng.  copen,  cf.  1430,  Lydgate, 

London  Lickpenny  Master,  "What  will  you  copen 

or  buy?"     This  word  was  introduced  into  Eng. 

by  Flemish  or  Dutch  merchants.     M.  D.  copen,  D. 

koopen.     Cf.  Eng.  to  chop;  cheap, 
coper,   cooper — a   vessel   fitted   out  to   supply   ardent 

spirits  to  the  fishers  in  the  North  Sea.     From  D. 

kooper. 
corver — a    kind    of    Dutch    herring-boat.     Cf.    Eng. 

corued  herrings.    From  M.  D.  corver.   Cf.  D.  corf 

harinck. 
to  cough — to  make  a  violent  effort  of  the  lungs.     Cf. 

1340  Gawain  and  the  Green  Knight.     From  O.  L. 

G.  Fries,  kuchen,  cf.  D.  kuchen. 
coy — a  place  for  entrapping  ducks  or  other  wild-fowl. 

Cf.   coy-duck,  cf.    1621   Burton  Anatomy.     From 

D.  kovi,  cf.  Eng.  decoy. 
coyte — a  kind  of  beer.     From  M.  D.  coyte,  kuyte-bier 

without  hops.     It  was  brewed  at   Brugge,   Delft 

and  Gouda. 
cracknel — a  kind  of  biscuit  of  hollowed  shape.  Found 

in    1440   already,   dial,    Sussex,   crackling.     From 

Fr.  craqitelin,  which  is  derived  from  D.  krakeling. 

Cf.  D.  kraken. 
crants — a    garland,     wreath,     a    virgin     crants.     Cf. 

Shakespeare.     From     D.     krants,     krans.     M.  D. 

crans    (of  flowers)  ;  the  symbol   of  virginity,   cf. 

Kiliaen  krants.    The  D.  krans  is  derived  from  the 

H.  G.  krans.    Cf.  Fr.  chapeau  de  neurs. 
crap — madder.     From  D.  krap,  meekrap. 
crap — the  gallows.     From  D.  krap — hook. 
cratch — a  manger,  a  rack  or  crib.     M.  Eng.  cracche, 

crecche.     Cf.     1225     Ancren     Rule;     1350    Will. 

Palerne;  dialectic  critch.     From  Fr.  creche  (Pro- 
vence crepcha)   which  is  derived  from  O.  L.  G. 

Cf.  D.  krib. 


110      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

to  cratch — to  scratch,  cf.  1362  Langland.  From  M. 
D.  cratsen,  D.  krassen. 

cremp — to  restrain,  to  contract.  Only  known  in  M. 
Eng.  1250,  Owl  and  Nightingale.  From  M.  D. 
cremp  en — to  make,  to  contract.  Cf.  D.  krimpen. 

cresset — a  vessel  of  iron,  made  to  hold  grease  or  oil, 
or  an  iron  basket  to  hold  pitched  rope,  to  be  burnt 
for  light ;  usually  mounted  on  a  pole.  Cf .  cresset- 
light,  cf.  1393  Gower,  Confessio.  From  O.  Fr. 
craicet,  cresset.  Fr.  crosset,  creuset,  formed  from 
croiseul,  which  is  derived  from  D.  kruysel,  a  lan- 
tern. Cf.  kiliaen,  kruysel — kroes — cup,  vessel.  M. 
D.  croese.  Cf.  D.  smeltkroes,  cf.  Eng.  crucible. 

crewel,  crule — worsted  yarn.  Already  found  in  1494. 
Cf.  crewel-work.  Nowadays  also  called  "Berlin 
wool."  From  D.  krul.  Though  the  sound  of  the 
D.  "u"  was  different,  the  pronunciation  could 
change,  as  soon  as  the  word  was  written  with  one 
"1"  (-krule),  instead  of  with  two. 

to  crimp — to  cause  to  contract  and  become  firm  by 
cutting.  From  D.  krimpen. 

to  cruise — to  traverse  the  sea.  Cf.  1651,  G.  Carteret, 
Nicholas  Papers,  "Van  Trump  is  with  his  fleete 
crusinge  about  Silly."  Cf.  a  cruiser.  From  D. 
kruisen.  Kruis  from  Fr.  crois,  which  is  derived 
from  Lat.  crucem. 

to  curl — to  twist  into  ringlets.  Cf.  M.  Eng.  to  kurl; 
to  croul;  crulle — curly.  Cf.  Chaucer's  Prologue. 
In  Washington  Irving's  Sketchbook,  Legend  of 
Sleepy  Hollow,  is  found  cruller — a  cake  made  of 
dough,  containing  eggs,  butter,  sugar,  etc.  D. 
krulkock.  From  O.  L.  G.  Fries,  krul.  Cf.  D. 
krul. 

to  daker,  daiker — to  waver,  stagger,  to  shake  to  and 
fro.  First  found  in  the  I7th  century.  From  M. 
D.  dakeren  (-to  stagger). 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED      111 

damp,  domp — an  exhalation.  Cf.  1480,  Caxton.  From 
M.  D.  damp,  domp.  A  "domp"  more  intense  than 
a  "damp." 

dapper — pretty,  spruce,  neat,  active.  Cf.  1529  Skel- 
ton,  "As  dapper  as  any  crowe" ;  Spenser,  1579, 
The  Shepherds'  Calendar,  "Dapper  ditties".  Oc- 
tober i,  13.  Cf.  Eng.  dapperisrn,  dapperling,  dap- 
perly,  dapperness.  From  M.  D.  dapper — quick, 
strong.  The  present  meaning  of  brave  did  not 
exist  in  the  M.  D.,  but  to  express  that  quality 
vrome,  bout,  or  coene  was  used.  Cf.  Goth,  gada- 
ben,  to  fit,  to  be  proper.  Gadobs — proper.  Cf. 
D.  deftig. 

das — a  badger,  rockbadger  of  the  Cape.  Cf.  1481 
Caxton,  Reynard.  From  M.  D.  das. 

damv — a  South  African  species  of  zebra.  From 
South  African  D.  dauw. 

deal — a  thin  plank  of  timber.  M.  Eng.  dele.  First 
found  in  1402.  From  D.  deel — plank. 

to  deck — to  cover,  adorn.  First  found  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  i6th  century.  From  D.  dekken,  for 
the  A.  S.  form  is  theccan. 

deck — a  ship's  deck;  a  covering.  From  D.  dek.  Cf. 
two-decker,  three-decker.  With  the  meaning  of 
second  or  third  deck,  the  word  is  found  in  Eng. 
earlier  than  in  D. 

decoy — a  pond  or  pool  out  of  which  run  narrow  arms 
covered  with  network  into  which  wild  ducks  or 
other  fowl  may  be  allured  and  then  caught.  1642 
Evelyn's  Diary:  "We  arrived  at  Dort,  passed  by 
the  decoys,  where  they  catch  innumerable  quan- 
tities of  fowls."  Cf.  coy;  to  decoy.  From  D.  de 
kooi,  a  shorter  form  of  de  eendekooi  (ducks' 
cage). 


112      WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

deese — dial.  East-Sussex — a  place  where  herrings 
are  dried.  Cf.  to  deese — to  dry  herrings.  Cf. 
deesing-room,  kipper-house.  Cf.  1682,  Collins 
Salt  and  Fishery.  From  M.  D.  deise — drying  kiln, 
oast.  Cf.  Deeste,  ast. 

Delf,  Delft — a  kind  of  earthen  ware.  Made  ready 
in  1310  at  Delft. 

dell — a  deep  hole,  dale,  vale.  M.  Eng.  delle.  From 
D.  delle — valley.  Cf.  D.  dal,  Eng.  dale.  Derived 
very  early. 

dell — a  young  girl,  a  wench.  Cf.  1567  Harman, 
Caveat.  From  D.  del,  M.  D.  delle,  dille.  Cf.  D. 
dillen — to  chatter.  D.  dille — chatterer. 

derrick — a  hangman,  the  gallows.  From  D.  Dirk,  the 
first  name  of  a  notorious  hangman  at  Tyburn, 
about  1600. 

deutzia—z.  genus  of  shrubs,  natives  of  China  and 
Japan,  cultivated  for  the  beauty  of  their  white 
flowers.  Called  in  1701  after  J.  Deutz  of  Amster- 
dam. 

to  dewitt — to  kill  by  mob  or  violence,  to  lynch.  This 
verb  was  used  frequently  and  is  still  to  be  found. 
Cf.  1689,  Modest  Enquiry,  "It  is  a  wonder  the 
English  nation  have  not  in  their  fury  de-witted 
some  of  those  men."  From  the  D.  names  Johan 
and  Cornelius  de  Witt,  statesmen  and  opponents 
of  William  III.  Murdered  by  the  people  in  1672. 

dikegrave — a  Dutch  officer  whose  function  it  is  to 
take  charge  of  the  dikes  or  sea-walls;  an  English 
officer  (in  Lincolnshire)  who  has  charge  of  the 
drains  and  sea-banks.  From  D.  dykgraaf. 

dobber — the  float  of  an  angler's  fishing-line.  From 
D.  dobber. 

dock — a  basin  for  ships.  Cf.  to  dock.  First  found 
in  the  beginning  of  the  i6th  century.  From  D. 
dok. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED      113 

dock  —  the  enclosure  in  a  criminal  court  in  which  the 

prisoner  is  placed  at  his  trial.     From  D.  dok  — 

cage.     Cf.  Kiliaen. 
dodkin,  doydekin  —  an  early  name  for  the  doit,  a  small 

Dutch  coin.    Found  in  Eng.  already  in  1415.  From 

D.  duit+kyn.     Cf-.  Eng.  doit. 
dogger  —  a  vessel  for  herring-  and  cod-fisheries.     Al- 

ready doger  is  found  in  (1491)  The  Paston  Let- 

ters.    M.    D.    dogge,    dogger,    ten    dogge    varen. 

Dogger-trawl,  net,  a  vessel  fishing  by  means   of 

trawl-nets.     The    doggerbank    was    the    meeting- 

place  for  the  doggers.     Probably  from  D.  dogger. 
Doit  —  a  small  Dutch  coin.     Cf.   Shakespeare's  Tem- 

pest, 2nd  Act.    From  D.  duit,  a  small  copper  coin. 

M.  D.  doyt,  duit. 
dois  —  a  crash.     Cf.  1535,  Stewart,  "With  sic  ane  dois 

togidder  that  tha  draif."     From  M.  D.  dosen.  (Cf. 

gedossen.  ) 

dollar  —  a  silver  coin  of  varying  value.  From  D. 
daler,  daalder,  which  is  derived  from  H.  G.  thaler 
—  Joachin's  Thaler,  coin  of  silver  from  Joachims- 
thai  in  Bohemia,  where  the  coins  were  made  in 


to  domineer  —  to  play  the  master.     Cf.   Shakespeare. 

From  O.  D.  1573  in  Plantyn,  domineer  en  —  to  be 

noisy,  which  is  derived  from  O.  Fr.  dominer.    Cf. 

Lat.  dominus. 
dop  —  the   cocoon   of  an   insect;   a   small  copper   cup 

with  a  handle,  into  which  a  diamond  is  cemented 

to  be  held  while  being  cut  or  polished.     From  D. 

dop. 
dope  —  any  thick  liquid  used  as  an  article  of  food,  or 

as  a  lubricant.     From  D.  doop.    Cf.  doopen.   Eng. 

to  dip. 


114     WHAT   INFLUENCE   HOLLAND    EXERTED 

doppcr — a   Dutch   Baptist   or   Anabaptist.      From   U. 

dooper.     Cf.  D.  wederdoopers. 
dornick,  darne — a  kind  of  cloth  named  after  the  town 

Doornik  in  Belgium,  and  originally  manufactured 

there.     Already  found  in  1489. 
dorp — a  Dutch  village.    Cf.  1503.  Stanyhurst — Aeneis. 

From  D.  dorp. 

doxy — a    disreputable    sweetheart.      Cf.    1530   Hicks- 
corner,    Shakespeare.      From   O.    L.    G.      Cf.    O. 

Fries,  dok — doll.     Cf.  Eng.  duck;  M.  D.  docken- 

spel. 
dredge — an  iron  frame  with  a  net,  bag;  a  drag-net 

for  taking  oysters ;  a  dredger  for  clearing  the  beds 

of  rivers.     From  O.  Fr.  drege,  a  fishing-net,  and 

this  from  D.  dreg.    Cf.  Eng.  dredger,  dragnet;  D. 

dregge,  dregnet.     M.  D.  dregge — hook,  dredging- 

net.     In  Murray  "A  New  Eng.  Dictionary"  it  is 

declared  to  be  a  pure  Eng.  word. 
to  drill — to  pierce,  to  train  soldiers.     Cf.  Ben  Jonson 

alludes  to  it  in  his  "Underwoods,"  1637: 
"He  that  but  saw  thy  curious  Captain's  drill 
"Would  think  no  more  of  Vlushing  or  the  Brill." 

From   D.   drill  en,   for  the  A.   S.   form  is   thirlan. 

Eng.  thrill.     Cf.  D.  drilboor— drill  (borer). 
drossart — a  steward,  a  high  bailiff.    Cf.  1678,  London 

Gazette,  "The  drossarts  of  the  country  of  Waes." 

From  D.  drossaard,  drost-governor. 
drug — a  medical  ingredient.    M.  Eng.  drogge,  drugge 

— herb.     Cf.  Fr.  droquiste,  Eng.  druggist.     From 

O.  Fr.  drogue,  which  is  derived  from  D.  droog. 

D.    drogen — dried    herbs.      Cf.    Eng.    drogery — a 

drying  place  ;  droger — a  boat  to  dry  herring.     Cf . 

Fr.  droguer. 
drugget — a   coarse   woolen    cloth,   to   make   rugs   of. 

From  O.   F.   droguet.     Cf.   Fr.  drogue,  which  is 

derived  from  D.  droog.    Cf.  Eng.  drug. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED     115 

drumbler — a  fast  vessel,  also  a  piratical  ship  of  war. 
Cf.  1598  Hackluyt,  Voyages.  From  D.  drom- 
melaar,  drommeler — a  kind  of  vessel.  Cf.  O.  Fr. 
dromon,  Eng.  dromond. 

duck,  ducks — light  canvas,  trousers  of  this  material. 
A  maritime  term  of  later  times.  From  D.  doek. 
H.  G.  tuch. 

duffel — a  kind  of  coarse  woolen  cloth.  Also  called: 
shag  of  trucking  cloth,  cf.  And  let  it  be  a  duffil 
gray.  Wordsworth.  Alice  Fell.  From  D.  duffel 
— a  kind  of  cloth  named  after  the  village  Duffel, 
between  Mechelen  and  Lier.  Cf.  D.  duff  else  he 
jas. 

duiker — a  small  South  African  antelope.  So  called 
from  its  habit  of  plunging  through  the  bushes 
when  pursued.  From  D.  duiker. 

dwile  (Norfolk  dialect) — a  coarse  towel  or  napkin,  a 
mop.  From  D.  dzwel.  M.  D.  divale,  dzvele.  Cf. 
Eng.  towel. 

easel — a  support,  a  wooden  frame  for  pictures  while 
being  painted.  From  D.  esel. 

ees — food,  bait.  M.  Eng.  es,  A.  S.  aes.  From  M.  D. 
aes — food.  D.  aas. 

eland — a  South  African  antelope.  From  D.  eland, 
which  is  derived  from  Slav. 

elger — an  eelspear.  Cf.  Eng.  algere.  From  M.  D. 
clger.  D.  aalgeer — a  large  spear  to  catch  eel.  D. 
aalgecr,  consists  of  aal  (-eel)  and  geer.  Geer  is 
an  old  name  for  D.  speer  (-spear).  Cf.  A.  S.  gar. 
M.  D.  gheer. 

elzevir — a  book  printed  by  one  of  the  Elzeviers ;  the 
style  of  type  used  by  those  printers.  Cf.  Elzevir 
type.  From  D.  Elzevir — name  of  a  family  of 
printers  at  Amsterdam,  The  Hague,  Leyden  and 
Utrecht  1592-1680,  famous  because  of  their  edi- 
tions of  the  classics. 


116      WHAT   INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

Erasmian — pertaining  to,  or  after  the  manner  of 
Erasmus.  A  follower  of  Erasmus.  From  D. 
Erasmus,  the  famous  Humanist  1466-1536. 

erf — (in  South  Africa) — A  garden  plot.  From  D. 
erf. 

excise — a  duty  or  tax.  Cf.  1596  Spenser's  State  of 
Ireland.  From  M.  D.  e.rcys.  Cf.  1406  Assay- 
books  of  the  town  of  Leyden.  Also  M.  D.  accys 
and  this  from  O.  Fr.  accens,  cf.  Fr.  accise,  D. 
cyns,  Lat.  census. 

faldore — a  trap-door,  a  falldoor.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton, 
Reynard.  From  M.  D.  valdoer — falldoor. 

farrow — a  cow  that  is  not  with  calf.  From  M.  D. 
verwekoe,  varwekoe,  a  cow  that  does  not  calve  any 
more. 

filibuster — a  pirate,  freebooter.  From  Sp.  filibustero, 
which  is  the  Spanish  pronunciation  of  the  Eng. 
word  freebooter,  and  this  is  derived  from  D. 
vrybuiter,  cf.  Eng.  frecboater,  flyboat. 

to  filter — to  strain  liquors.  From  O.  Fr.  filtrer,  and 
this  from  Lat.  filtrum  and  this  from  O.  L.  G.  cf. 
D.  filtreeren,  vilt. 

to  fineer — to  collect  money.  Cf.  Goldsmith,  Essays. 
From  M.  D.  finieren,  fyneren — to  collect  money. 

fimble — the  male  plant  of  hemp ;  finable  hemp.  From 
M.  D.  fimele,  a  kind  of  hemp.  Originally  an  ad- 
jective meaning  female.  Fr.  femelle.  Eng.  female. 

firkin — the  fourth  part  of  a  barrel.  M.  Eng.  ferdekyn 
1423.  From  D.  vierdevat  cf.  verrel.  Perhaps  fir 
— four  and  kin,  diminutive  cf.  D.  kilderkin. 

fitchet,  fitchew — a  polecat.  A  form  derived  from  O. 
Fr.  fissel,  plural  (fissiaul.v),  later  fissan.  From 
older  D.  fisse,  visse — a  polecat.  Cf.  Killaen.  Cf. 
D.  vies,  veest.  Eng.  foist. 

flake — a  pool,  marsh.  Cf.  Linschoten,  Voyages.  From 
D.  vlak.  Cf.  Kiliaen. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED      117 

nanders — D.  Vlaanderen.  Used  as  an  adjective.  Cf. 
Flanders  brick,  tile,  flax,  lace. 

flandrican,  Flanderkin.  From  Flanderenkin — an  in- 
habitant of  Flanders;  Flemish. 

fleming — a  native  or  inhabitant  of  Flanders ;  a  Flem- 
ing vessel.  1430  Lydgate.  From  M.  D.  Vlaming. 

flemish — of  or  belonging  to  Flanders ;  the  Flemish 
language.  From  M.  D.  Vlaemisch.  D.  Vlaamsch, 
Cf.  Eng.  a  Flemish  ell,  rider,  a  Flemish  account. 
Cf.  a  Flemish  stitch,  point,  fake,  coil,  bond,  brick. 

to  flemish — to  coil  or  lay  up  a  rope  in  a  Flemish  coil ; 
of  a  hound  to  make  a  quivering  movement  with 
the  tail  and  body.  1857.  Ch.  Kingsley,  Two 
Years  Ago,  18  ch.  1832  Marryat.  From  M.  D. 
vlaemisch,  D.  vlaamsch. 

ftittermousc — a  bat.  1547.  Boorde.  Brev.  Health. 
We  also  find  it  a  few  times  in  Ben  Jonson.  From 
D.  vledermuis.  Cf.  D.  ftadderen,  and  M.  D. 
Hederen. 

to  flounder — to  flounce  about.  Cf.  Beaumont  and 
Fletcher.  Nasalied  form  from  L.  L.  G.  Cf.  D. 
flodderen. 

flushing — a  kind  of  rough  woolen  cloth,  so  called 
from  the  place  Flushing.  1835  Marryat.  P.  Sim- 
ple. D.  Vlissingen. 

flushinger — a  Flushing  vessel  or  sailor.  From  D. 
Vlissingen. 

flyboat — one  of  the  small  boats  used  on  the  Vlie,  after- 
wards applied  in  ridicule  to  the  vessels  used 
against  the  Spaniards  by  the  Sea-Beggars  1572; 
a  fast  sailing  ship,  a  flat-bottomed  boat.  From  D. 
vlieboot. 

fogger — a  man  who  feeds  and  attends  to  cattle.  Berk- 
shire dialect.  From  D.  fokker. 


118      WHAT   INFLUENCE   HOLLAND    EXERTED 

fob — a  pocket  for  a  watch.  Cf.  Butler's  Hudibras. 
Cf.  D.  fob— to  cheat.  From  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  Bre- 
men Worterbuch  fuppe. 

fop — a  coxcomb,  dandy.  Cf.  foppery,  fopling.  Fre- 
quently found  in  Shakespeare.  M.  Eng.  foppe. 
From  D.  foppen — to  deceive.  Cf.  D.  foppert,  fop- 
pery. Perhaps  a  Fries,  word. 

to  formake — to  make  over  again,  to  repair.  Cf.  1483. 
Caxton,  Vocal.  From  D.  vermaken. 

to  for  sling — to  swallow  down.  Cf.  1481.  Caxton, 
Reynard,  where  the  past  participle  "verslongen" 
is  found,  which  is  derived  from  M.  D.  "verlon- 
den." 

to  forslinger — to  beat,  to  belabour.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton, 
Reynard.  From  M.  D.  verslingcren. 

forzvything — reproach.  Cf.  Caxton,  Reynard.  From 
M.  D.  verwyt. 

to  f other — to  cover  a  sail  with  oakum;  to  stop  a  leak. 
Maritime  term,  first  used  in  the  i8th  century. 
From  D.  voederen,  voeren. 

foy — a  parting  entertainment,  cup  of  liquor,  etc., 
given  by  or  to  one  setting  out  on  a  journey;  a 
feast.  From  M.  D.  foye.  This  M.  D.  word  is  de- 
rived from  the  Fr.  voie,  voye.  Lat.  via.  Cf.  Fr. 
voyage.  Cf.  D.  fooi.  The  Eng.  word  fee  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  D.  fooi;  it  is  one  in  origin 
with  D.  vee. 

freebooter — a  rover,  pirate.  Cf.  Sidney  State  Papers, 
"The  freebutters  of  Flushenge."  From  D. 
vrybuiter.  Etymology  of  the  people.  From  Fr. 
ftibustier,  a  derivation  from  Span,  fiibote,  derived 
from  D.  vlieboot.  Cf.  Eng.  Hyboat. 

fraught — freight,  hire  of  a  vessel  for  the  transport 
of  goods.  Cf.  1483  Caxton,  Golden  Legends. 
From  D.  vracht. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED      119 

frokin — a  Dutch  woman,  a  child.     Cf.   1603  Dekker. 

From  D.  vronwken. 
frolic — sportive,  gay,-  merry.    Cf .  frolicsome,  to  frolic. 

Cf.   Gascoigne   "Fruites  of   Warre."     A  frolicke 

favour.     From  D.'iroolyk.     M.  D.  vrs.     H.  G. 

frohlich,  froh. 
frow — a  woman,  a  Dutch  woman.     Cr.  1477.    Paston, 

Letters.     From  D.  vronw. 
to  jumble — to  grope  about.     Cf.  Sir  Th.  More,  False 

fumbling  heretikes.     Fumble — fummle.     From  D. 

fommelen.     Cf.  Swed.  famla,  to  grope. 
funk,   fonk — spark.      Cf.    1330.      R.    Brunne.      From 

M.  D.  vonke.-    D.  vonk.     Origin  uncertain. 
funk — cowering  fear,  a  state  of  terror  (slang).   From 

D.  fonck.     Cf.   Kiliaen,  and  Lye  in  Junius  Ety- 

mologicum. 
furlough — leave  of  absence.     From  D.  verlof,  vorlof. 

M.  D.  orlof.     Cf.  H.  G.  erlauben.     In  Sw.  forlof, 

which  word  has  about  the  same  pronunciation  as 

the  Eng. 

gas — an  aeriform  fluid.  Cf.  gaseous,  gasometer. 
From  D.  gas,  an  artificial  word.  Name  given  by 
the  Brussels  chemist,  J.  B.  van  Helmont,  about 
1640,  to  the  aeriform  fluids,  to  which  he  first 
directed  attention.  The  name  was  made  by  him 
and  was  taken  by  other  languages.  The  Greek 
word  chaos  was  in  his  mind.  Cf.  Van  Helmont, 
Ortus  Medicinae  1640. 

go/He — a  steel  lever  for  bending  the  crossbow ;  a  spur 
for  fighting  cocks.  Cf.  1497.  Naval  accidents. 
From  D.  gaffcl — a  two-pronged  fork,  used  for 
various  purposes. 

gay  lor — a  dealer  in  earthenware.  From  D.  gleycr, 
gleier,  potter. 


120      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

garboard — the  first  range  of  planks  laid  upon  a  ship's 
bottom.  Cf.  1606  Captain  Smith.  From  D.  gaar- 
boord,  gaderboord. 

garnel — a  species  of  shrimp.     From  D.  garnaal. 

geek — a  fool,  one  who  is  derided,  an  expression  of 
scorn.  Cf.  to  ,geck — to  mock.  Cf.  1500  Dunbar. 
From  O.  L.  G.  geek,  D.  gek. 

geitje — a  venomous  African  lizard.  South  African 
D.  geitje. 

gemsbok — a  South  African  antelope.  South  African. 
From  D.  gemsbok,  Cf.  D.  springbok,  steinbok. 

geneva — a  spirit  distilled  from  grain,  and  flavoured 
with  the  juice  of  juniper  berries.  From  D.  gen- 
ever,  j  en  ever.  Cf.  Eng.  gin.  • 

gherkin — a  small  cucumber.-  Cf.  1661  Pepys  Diary. 
From  D.  agurk,  augurk,  agurkje  and  this  derived 
from  Slav.  The  "h"  is  put  into  the  Eng.  word, 
while  the  "a"  is  apocopated.  The  ending  (k)in  is 
diminutive. 

gimp — silk  or  cotton  twist  with  a  cord  or  wire  run- 
ning through  it ;  a  fishing  line.  Cf .  1664.  J.  Wil- 
son. From  D.  gimp,  passement. 

to  glim — to  shine,  to  gleam.  Cf.  1481  Caxton, 
Reynard.  "His  eyen  glymmed  as  a  fyre."  D. 
glimmen. 

golf — the  name  of  a  game.  Already  known  in  Eng- 
land in  1457.  Probably  from  D.  kolf.  M.  D. 
colve.  Cf.  D.  kolfbaan.  Kolven — a  game  played 
with  cudgels  (-kolven)  and  balls. 

Gomarist — a  follower  of  Francis  Gomar  1563-1641, 
who  zealously  defended  Orthodox  Calvinism  in 
opposition  to  the  doctrines  of  Arminius.  From 
D.  Franciscus  Gomarus,  Professor  at  Leyden,  who 
defended  the  doctrine  of  predestination  against 
Arminius. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      121 

graft,  graft — a  trench,  a  ditch,  a  canal.  Cf.  1641 
Evelyn  Diary.  From  D.  graft,  gracht. 

grate — the  backbone  of  a  fish.  Cf.  1481.  Caxton, 
Reynard.  From  M.  D.  graet. 

great-father — grand-father.  Cf.  1484,  Caxton,  Aesop. 
And  the  mule  answered:  my  grete  father  was  a 
horse.  From  D.  grotvader. 

to  grim — to  be  angry,  to  look  fierce.  Cf.  1481.  Cax- 
ton, Reynard.  From  M.  D.  grimmen. 

gripe — the  piece  of  timber  terminating  the  keel  at 
the  forward  extremity.  Cf.  1599.  Hakluyt's  Voy- 
ages. Maritime  term.  From  D.  greep. 

groat — a  coin  worth  4  pence.  M.  Eng.  grote  1351. 
From  O.  L.  G.  grote.  1351.  From  O.  L.  G. 
grote,  a  coin  of  Bremen.  Cf.  D.  groot,  of  vary- 
ing value.  M.  D.  groot,  grote.  Originally  the 
adj.  groot  (-large),  used  as  substantive  with  the 
meaning  thick,  a  thick  (groote)  coin.  Cf.  Eng. 
groatsworth. 

groll — a  foolish  person.  Cf.  Bastwick  Litany,  1637. 
Cf.  Eng.  grollery,  grollish.  From  D.  .grol — fool- 
ish prattle.  Cf.  D.  grollenmaker.  Origin  uncer- 
tain. Perhaps  grol  has  been  the  name  of  some 
doctor  or  magician,  but  see:  Verdam,  Murray, 
Vocabulary  of  the  D.  Language,  Franck. 

groop — gutter  in  a  stable,  ditch,  groove.  Northamp- 
tonshire dialect.  From  M.  D.  groep — gutter.  Cf. 
Eng.  grip. 

groove — a  furrow,  channel  cut  in  wood,  iron  or  stone. 
Already  in  1400.  Cf.  Alexander.  In  fig.  mean- 
ing humdrum  way,  cf.  to  groove;  to  engroone 
upon  (Tennyson).  From  D.  groef,  M.  D.  groeve 
— groove  in  a  side  of  a  board.  The  making  of 
these  "groven"  is  called  "ploegen"  Cf.  D. 
ploegschaaf,  groef schaaf ;  cf.  graven. 


122      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

groundsop  —  sediment,  dregs.  Cf.  1440,  1530- 
Grounde  soppe  in  lycoure.  From  D.  grondsop. 

to  growl — impersonal  verb.  It  groivls  me — I  have 
a  feeling  of  terror  or  horror.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton, 
Reynard  the  Fox.  From  M.  D.  growelen;  mi 
gruwelt  seer.  Cf.  D.  gruwen. 

growing-iron — a  tool  in  the  form  of  nippers  formerly 
used  by  glaziers  in  cutting  glass.  From  D. 
gruisyzer.  Cf.  Eng.  grozier. 

gruel — liquid  food.  M.  Eng.  gruel,  and  this  from 
O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D.  grut,  gort. 

gruff — coarse,  rough,  surly.  Already  found  in  1533. 
From  M.  D.  grof.  D.  grof — heavy,  clumsy.  Ori- 
gin uncertain. 

grundy — groundling.  Cf.  1570.  Foxe.  He  was  a 
short  grundy  and  of  little  stature.  From  D. 
grontly,  grundje — small  fish. 

grysbok — a  small  grey  South  African  antelope.  From 
D.  grysbok  (South  African). 

guelder-ros,  gueldres-rosc — a  species  of  Viburnum, 
bearing  large  white  ball-shaped  flowers.  So 
named  from  some  resemblance  of  the  flower  to  a 
white  rose.  Gueldres  is  the  Fr.  spelling  of  the 
name  of  the  province  Gelderland.  D.  Gildcrsche 
roos  (Opulus).  This  flower  is  found  wild  in 
Holland. 

guile — deceit.  M.  Eng.  gile,  gyle.  From  O.  Fr. 
guile  and  this  from  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  Eng.  wile. 
Origin  uncertain. 

guilder — a  Dutch  coin.  Cf.  1483,  Caxton,  Dialogues. 
A  changed  form  of  D.  gulden. 

to  gybe — to  swing  from  one  side  of  the  vessel  to  the 
other ;  to  cause  to  swing ;  to  alter  its  course. 
From  D.  gypen.  Cf.  D.  met  een  gyp — with  a 
swing.  The  "gyp"  is  not  used  any  more.  The 
gaff  takes  its  place. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED     123 

gyle — wort  in  process  of  fermentation.  Cf.  Eng. 
gyle-fat;  gylc-kcr.  From  D.  gyl,  geil — yeast  (in 
the  brewery).  Cf.  gylen.  Origin  uncertain. 

hackbut — a  kind  of  gun.  Cf.  Eng.  hackbus,  harque- 
bus, bowse,  bus,  arquebus.  From  Fr.  haquebute, 
from  D.  haakbus,  so  called  after  the  hook  at  the 
end  of  the  barrel.  M.  D.  haecbusse — small 
cannon. 

hamlet — a  small  village.  M.  Eng.  hamelet.  From 
O.  Fr.  hamel  et.  Fr.  hamcau,  and  this  from  O. 
L.  G.  Cf.  D.  heem,  heim,  Eng.  home. 

hank  spike — wooden  bar,  used  as  a  lever,  chiefly  on 
board  ship.  From  D.  handspaak. 

hans-in-k elder — an  unborn  child.  Cf.  1635,  Brome, 
Sparagus  Garden,  "Come  here's  a  health  to  the 
hans  in  kelder."  Is  frequently  found  in  Eng.  of 
the  1 7th  century.  From  D.  Hansje  in  de  kelder. 
Kelder,  kildelap.  Cf.  de  Dortsche  Kit.  Goth. 
kilthei. 

harstrang,  horestrong — hog's  fennel.  Cf.  1562. 
Turner,  Herbal.  "Peucedanum  is  named  in  Dutch 
Har  strang.  Cf.  M.  D.  harn — urine.  H.  G.  harn. 

hartebeest — a  kind  of  antelope.  South  African, 
from  D.  hert+beest. 

to  haivk — to  carry  about  for  sale.  Formed  from  the 
Eng.  substantive  hawker.  Cf.  Eng.  hazt'ker. 

hawker — a  kind  of  •  pedlar  who  travels  about  selling 
goods  with  a  horse  and  cart.  From  O.  L.  G. 
hoker.  Cf.  D.  heuker,  hukker.  Eng.  huckster. 

hayc — a  shark.  Cf.  Purchas.  1614.  Cf.  Eng.  hay- 
fish.  From  D.  haai. 

heemradcn — burghers  appointed  by  the  government 
to  act  as  assessors  in  the  district  courts  of  Justice. 
South  African  from  D.  heemraad. 


124      WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

herring-buss — a  two  or  three  masted  vessel  used  in 
the  herring-fishery.  From  D.  haringbuis.  Cf. 
Eng.  bouse. 

hobby — a  small  species  of  falcon.  From  O.  Fr.  hob. 
Cf.  O.  Fr.  hober — to  move  and  therefore  so  called 
after  its  movements.  From  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D.  hob- 
belen. 

hogen  mogen,  hogan  mogan — D.  hoogmogendhedem, 
the  High  and  Mighty,  the  Dutch,  strong,  mighty, 
a  coward.  Was  frequently  used  in  the  I7th 
century. 

hoiden,  hoyden — a  romping  girl.  Cf.  1593.  Nashe. 
With  older  writers  in  Eng.  mostly  in  the  mean- 
ing: uncivilized  boor.  From  M.  D.  heyden, 
heiden,  man  who  lives  on  the  heath  (D.  heide). 

to  hoist,  to  hoise — to  heave,  to  raise  tackle.  Cf. 
Shakespeare.  From  D.  hyschen,  hyssen.  Already 
derived  early. 

Holland — Dutch  linen  from  the  name  of  the  country 
Holland.  Cf.  A  shert  of  feyn  Holland.  Cov- 
entry Mysteries,  1502.  A  pece  (of)  Holland  or 
any  other  lynnen  cloth.  Arnold's  Chronicle.  Cf. 
a  brown  Holland.  Cf.  Eng.  a  Hollander. 

Hollands — gin  made  in  Holland.  Cf.  British  Hol- 
lands— gin  distilled  in  England. 

holliglass — a  corruption  of  howleglass,  owliglasse, 
owl  glass — a  buffoor.  From  D.  Uilenspiegel. 
Uillenspiegel,  which  work  was  translated  into 
Eng.  about  1550. 

holster — a  leathern  case  for  a  pistol.  A  word  of  later 
times.  From  D.  holster.  Origin  uncertain. 

hop  or  hoppe — a  plant  introduced  from  the  Nether- 
lands into  England  about  1500  and  used  in  brew- 
ing. Cf.  hopvine,  hopgarden.  From  D.  hop. 
Origin  uncertain. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED      125 

hope — a  troop.  Only  in  the  phrase  "forlorn  hope." 
Cf.  1572.  Gascoigne.  Also  in  Sir  Fr.  Vere.  The 
battle  of  Nieuport.  From  D.  een  verloren  hoop — 
a  troop  soldiers.  Cf.  Kiliaen. 

Hottentot — one  of  the  aborigines  who  formerly  in- 
habited the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  Dutchmen 
gave  this  name  first  to  those  natives  because  of 
their  singular  language  which  made  people  think 
that  they  were  stammering.  Cf.  Hot  en  tot.  Cf. 
Dapper.  Beschryvingh  der  Afrikaanrehe  Gewes- 
ten,  1670. 

hoy — a  kind  of  sloop.  Cf.  1495.  Paston  Letters. 
An  hoy  of  Dorderyght.  Gascoigne,  Fruits  of 
War.  M.  D.  hoede,  hode,  hoei,  heude.  Flem. 
huy — yacht,  freight-ship.  Origin  unknown. 

hoy — interjection,  stop !  When  one  ship  hails 
another,  the  words  are :  What  ship,  hoy? — stop 
and  tell  the  name  of  your  ship.  A  maritime  term. 
From  D.  huy!  an  interjection.  Cf.  ahoy. 

hoarding,  hoard — a  fence  inclosing  a  house  while 
builders  are  at  work.  From  O.  Fr.  hourde,  and 
this  from  D.  horde,  M.  D.  gorde. 

huckster — a  pedler,  a  retailer,  hawker,  venter,  kramer. 
Cf.  hawker,  to  huck,  hucker,  huckle.  Can  be 
found  already  in  1205  in  Ormulum  under  the 
form:  huccster.  From  M.  D.  hoeker — retailer  of 
groceries.  D.  dial  heuker,  hukker — grocer.  Cf. 
hukken,  huiken — somebody  who  is  bent  down 
under  his  burden  or  cognated  with  "hoek" — in 
the  meaning  of  store.  Origin  uncertain. 

hull — the  body  of  a  ship.  Cf.  Minot  Political  Poems, 
"The  gudes  that  thai  robbed  in  holl  gan  thai  it 
hide."  To  hull — floating  around  of  a  ship  with 
lowered  sails.  Cf.  Eng.  hold.  From  D.  hoi,  het 
hoi  (hold)  of  a  ship.  Eng.  hull— shell.  Cf.  M. 
D.  hulle — covering. 


126      WHAT   INFLUENCE   HOLLAND    EXERTED 

to  hustle,  to  hutstle — to  toss,  to  push  about,  to  jostle 
in  a  crowd.  From  D.  hutselen,  frequently  of  to 
hotsen.  Cf.  Eng.  hustle-cap.  M.  D.  hutssecru- 
ysen. 

hunk — the  goal,  home  in  a  game.  From  D.  honk. 
Cf.  D.  van  honk  gaan;  honken — to  be  on  the  rest- 
ing-place in  playing  at  tag.  Fries,  honck-home. 

Huyghcnian—oi  or  pertaining  to  Christian  Huygens, 
a  Dutch  mathematician  and  astronomer,  1629- 
1695. 

to  inspan — to  yoke  oxen,  horses  in  a  team  to  a 
vehicle.  From  South  African  inspan.  D.  inspan- 
ncn.  Cf.  to  outspan. 

isinglass — a  glutinous  substance  made  from  a  fish. 
Probably  used  as  gelatine, .  and  hence  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  word  by  thinking  of  ice  and  the 
glassy  appearance.  From  D.  huizenblas,  M.  D. 
huusblase,  H.  G.  hauscnblas,  and,  according  to 
some  dictionaries,  also  hnisblad,  stcurblaas.  M. 
D.  hunt — a  kind  of  sturgeon.  Glue  made  of  the 
sturgeon's  bladder. 

jagger — a  sailing  vessel  which  followed  a  fishing  fleet 
in  order  to  bring  the  fish  from  the  busses.  From 
D.  haringjager. 

jangle — to  sound  discordantly,  to  quarrel.  M.  Eng. 
janglen.  From  O.  Fr.  j angler,  and  this  from  O. 
L.  G.  Cf.  M.  D.  jangelen,  D.  jengelen,  janken. 

kails,  keils,  kayles — nine-pins.  Cf.  M.  Eng.  kayles; 
Ben  Jonson,  Chloridia.  From  M.  D.  kegel,  keyl. 
Cf.  keylbaan.  D.  kegel. 

kakkerlak — a  cockroach,  an  albino.  From  D.  kak- 
kerlak — a  beetle,  a  white  native  of  Java. 

to  keek — to  peep,  glance.  From  D.  kyken.  M.  D. 
kiken. 

keel — a  flat  bottomed  vessel,  a  lighter.  From  M.  D. 
kiel — a  large  seaship. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED     127 

to  keelhaul — to  haul  a  person  under  the  keel  of  a  ship. 
From  D.  kielhalen,  which  was  abolished  in  1853. 

kcest — sap,  marrow,  viguor.  From  D.  keest — mar- 
row, the  best  part. 

kelder — the  womb.     Cf.   Hans-in-kelder. 

kelson,  keelson — a  line  of  timber  placed  along  the 
floortimbers  of  a  ship.  From  M.  D.  colszvyn.  D. 
kolzwyn,  kolsem,  a  thick  beam  which  is  put  on  the 
inside  along  the  keel  to  make  it  stronger. 

kermis — a  fair  or  carnival.  Cf.  Harrison  1577. 
From  D.  kermis. 

kilderkin — liquid  measure  of  18  gallon.  From  M.  D. 
kindekyn,  kinnekyn.  Already  found  in  Eng.  in 
1390.  Cf.  Eng.  a  kilderkyn  of  ale.  In  Dry  den : 
a  kilderken  of  wit.  The  word  is  derived  from 
Lat.  quinbale — one-fifth  of  the  measure  unit,  a 
derivation  from  Lat.  quinque.  Cf.  Firkin. 

kink — a  twist  in  a  rope.  First  used  in  Eng.  in  the 
1 7th  century.  Cf.  D.  konkel.  M.  D.  conk  el t  een 
kink  in  den  kabel.  From  D.  kink — twist,  from 
the  same  root  as  "konkel."  Cf.  D.  konkelen. 

kit — a  vessel  of  various  kinds,  a  milk-pail,  tub,  out- 
fit— de  "heele  rommel."  Cf.  1375.  Barbour 
Bruce.  M.  D.  kitte,  kit — pitcher.  Cf.  D.  kit, 
drinking-vessel,  cup.  M.  D.  cete,  barn,  shed.  Cf. 
kot,  keet,  soutkeet. 

klipspringer — a  small  antelope.  From  South  African, 
D.  klipspringer. 

kloof — a  deep  narrow  valley;  a  ravine.  South  Afri- 
can. D.  kloof. 

knapsack — a  provision-bag,  case  for  necessaries  used 
by  travellers,  or  soldiers.  Cf.  Eng.  snapsack.  Cf. 
Drayton,  The  Barons'  War,  1603.  And  each  one 
fills  his  knapsack  or  his  scrip.  From  D.  knapzak, 
satchel,  bag ;  D.  knappen — to  eat.  Cf.  D.  knab- 
belen. 


128      WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

knicker — a  marble.     From  D.  knikker. 

knorhan — a  South  African  bustard.  From  D.  knor- 
haan. 

knuckle — the  projecting  joint  of  the  ringers.  M.  Eng. 
knokel.  From  M.  D.  cnoke,  cnokel. 

knure,  knur — a  swelling,  a  knot  in  wood.  M.  Eng. 
knorre.  From  O.  L.  G.  Fries,  knure.  Cf.  D. 
knor — brush.  M.  D.  cnorre.  Cf.  D.  knoest, 
knorf. 

koff — clumsy  sailing-vessel  with  two  masts.  From 
D.  kof. 

kopje,  koppie — a  small  hill.  South  African.  From 
D.  kopje. 

kraal — a  village  of  Hottentots,  or  other  central  Afri- 
can natives.  From  D.  kraal. 

krantz — a  summit,  a  wall  of  rocks.  From  D.  krans — • 
kroon  (kruin) — crown. 

kreng — the  carcass  of  a  whale  from  which  the  blub- 
ber has  been  removed.  From  D.  kreng,  and  this 
from  O.  Fr.  caroigne.  Cf.  Lat.  caro — flesh. 

lack — want,  \  failure.  M.  Eng.  lac,  lace  en.  Cf .  Eng. 
to  lack.  From  O.  L.  G.  Fries,  lak.  Cf.  D.  lak, 
laster.  Cf.  lak  en  (denominative). 

lager — an  enclosure  for  protective  purposes,  such  as 
a  circular  wall  of  stone,  or  a  number  of  wagons 
lashed  together.  South  African.  From  D.  lager. 
Cf.  leger. 

lake — fine  linen.  Cf.  Chaucer's  Sir  Thopas.  From 
M.  D.  lak  en,  D.  lak  en. 

lampas,  hampers — a  kind  of  glassy  crape.  From  M. 
D.  tampers — a  transparent  material.  Is  found  in 
M.  Eng.  already  in  1390  in  the  form  of  lawmpas. 
Origin  uncertain. 

lampoon — a  personal  satire.  From  Fr.  lampon — 
drinking-song.  Fr.  lamper — to  sing,  and  this 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      129 

from  O.  L.   G.     Cf.  Fr.  tapper — to  lick  up  and 

also  Fr.  tampons — let  us  drink,  which  interjection 

is  frequently  found  in  drinking  songs. 
landdrost — a  stipendary  magistrate,  who  administers 

justice  and  receives    the    revenue    of    a    district. 

South  African.     From  D.  landdrost. 
landgood — a  landed  estate.     From  D.  tandgoed. 
landgrave — a  count  of  a  province.     Cf.  landgravine. 

From  D.   landgraaf. 

landloper — a  vagabond.     From  D.  landlooper. 
landscape — the  aspect  of  a  country.     Cf.  A  landscape 

painter,  landscape  gardening.     The  former  spell- 
ing in  Eng.  was  landskip.     It  was  derived  from 

the  D.  in  the  I7th  century.     From  D.  landschap. 
lash — a  thin  flexible  part  of  a  whip,  a  stripe.    M.  Eng. 

lasshe.     Cf.  Chaucer.     From  O.  L.  G.  laske.     Cf. 

Eng.  to  lash, 
to   lash — to   fasten  firmly  together.     Maritime   term. 

From   D.  lasch — strip,    piece.      Cf.    D.    lasschen, 

inlasschen.     Origin   uncertain. 
to  laveer — to  beat  to  windward.    Cf.  1595  Linschoten, 

translated  by  W.  Philips.     From  D.  laveer  en.     M. 

D.  lover  en.    Cf.  Fr.  louvoyer,  D.  loef. 
layman — a  lay-figure.     From   D.   leeman,  ledeman — 

ledepop    (pop-doll),   or   doll   with   movable   arms, 

legs,  etc.,  for  painters. 
lay-figure — layman.     Formed  by  analogy  of  the  work : 

layman. 
leaguer — a  camp.     Cf.  Shakespeare.     From  D.  leger. 

Cf.  to  beleaguer, 
leak — a  hole  or  fissure  in  a  vessel.    A  maritime  term, 

first  found  in  Eng.  in  1407.     From  D.  lek. 
ledger — a  book  in  which  a  summary  of  accounts  is 

preserved,   formerly   called   a   ledgerbook.      From 


130      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

D.  legger  (ligger),  a  book  which  is  always  lying 
ready. 

lighter — a  boat  for  unloading  ships.  Cf.  lighterman. 
From  D.  lichter. 

link — a  torch.  Corruption  of  lint.  From  D.  lont. 
Cf.  Eng.  linstock. 

linstock,  lintstock — a  stick  to  hold  a  lighted  match. 
From  D.  lontstok.  Cf.  Eng.  link. 

litmus — a  kind  of  dye.  Cf.  litmose  blew.  From  D. 
lakmoes.  M.  D.  lekmoes — reddish  blue  dye.  Ori^- 
gin  uncertain. 

to  loiter — to  delay,  to  linger.  M.  Eng.  loitren.  Cf. 
lout — clown.  Perhaps :  to  stoop  like  a  lout.  Cf . 
Spenser:  he  humbly  loited.  The  idea  probably 
has  been  to  bow  humbly  like  a  lout,  to  steal,  to 
delay.  From  D.  leuteren.  M.  D.  loteren — to  stag- 
ger, to  go  to  and  fro.  Cf.  M.  D.  lutsen.  The  later 
meaning  of  delay,  linger,  is  not  found  in  M.  D. 
Leuteren  is  a  frequent  of  a  not  yet  found  verb, 
lot  en.  A.  S.  lutan — to  bow. 

to  loll — to  lounge  about  lazily.  M.  Eng.  lollen.  From 
O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D.  lollen— to  hum,  to  sing,  to  talk, 
to  trifle,  to  be  lazy.  Cf.  lollepot — fire-pot  around 
which  people  loll.  Cf.  Eng.  to  lull;  lollard. 

lollard — a  name  given  to  the  followers  of  Wyclif. 
From  M.  D.  lollaerd — brother  of  mercy,  so  called 
after  their  quiet  singing  and  praying,  called  by 
the  people  in  Holland  lolbroeder,  lollaard.  Many 
of  them  were  free-thinkers  and  therefore  lollard 
got  the  meaning  of  free-thinker,  heretic.  Cf.  D. 
lollen.  Eng.  to  lull. 

loon,  lown—a.  base  fellow.  Cf.  Shakespeare.  From 
O.  L.  G.  Fries.  Ion.  Cf.  D.  loen — lout,  stupid, 
slow. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      131 

to  lop — to  cut  branches  off  trees.  Cf.  Shakespeare. 
Already  derived  early.  From  D.  lubben;  past 
participle,  gelubt — to  cut,  to  make  powerless. 

luck — fortune,  chance.  From  O.  L.  G.  Fries,  luck. 
Cf.  D.  geluk. 

to  luff,  to  loof — to  turn  a  ship  towards  the  wind.  M. 
D.  loeveren,  loveren,  loeveeren.  The  Eng.  verb 
is  perhaps  derived  from  M.  Eng.  lof — a  piece  of 
wood,  an  oar.  H.  G.  laffe.  In  Kiliaen  loeve — 
rowing-pin.  In  the  i6th  century  it  was  derived 
from  the  D.  and  taken  into  Eng.  again.  The 
origin  is  still  uncertain.  Cf.  luff-tackle;  aloof. 

mangle — a  roller  for  smoothing  linen.  Cf.  Eng.  to 
mangle.  From  D.  mangel.  M.  D.  mange,  and 
this  from  Lat.  manganum. 

manikan,  manakin — a  little  man,  a  dwarf.  Cf . 
Shakespeare.  From  D.  manneken,  mannetje. 

margrave — a  marquis,  a  lord  of  the  marches.  Cf. 
"The  Maregrave  of  Bruges,"  in  the  translation 
of  Sir  Th.  More's  Utopia,  1551.  From  D.  mark- 
graaf.  Cf.  Eng.  margravine. 

marish — a  marsh.  D.  moeras.  From  O.  Fr.  maress, 
marez,  and  this  from  O.  L.  G. 

marline— -a  small  cord  used  for  binding  large  ropes, 
to  protect  them.  Cf.  Dryden,  Annus  Mirabilis: 
"Some  the  galled  ropes  with  dauby  marling  bind." 
From  D.  marly  n,  marling,  a  compound  with  the 
root  of  D.  marren — to  fasten.  Cf.  Eng.  to  mar. 
Goth,  mar z Jan. 

mazer — a  drinking-bowl.  M.  Eng.  maser.  Cf.  D. 
maser.  Kiliaen.  Cf.  Eng.  maple,  measles.  From 
O.  L.  G. 

measles — contagious  fever  accompanied  by  small  red 
spots  on  the  skin.  M.  Eng.  maseles.  From  D. 
mazelen,  mazel,  a  diminutive  of  maas — spot. 


132      WHAT  INFLUENCE  .HOLLAND   EXERTED 

mercatte — an  ape.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard.  From 
M.  D.  mercatte,  a  sort  of  ape. 

minikin — a  little  darling.  Cf.  Shakespeare.  From 
D.  minnekyn,  friend,  loved.  Cf.  D.  myne  eerste 
liefde.  Fr.  amour. 

minx — a  pert,  a  wanton  woman,  or  a  pet  dog.  Cf. 
Shakespeare.  A  corruption  from  Fries,  minske. 
Cf.  D.  minneken,  my  dearest. 

mite — a  very  small  portion,  a  small  coin.  Cf.  Lang- 
land  and  Shakespeare.  From  M.  D.  mite — trifle, 
small  coin.  Cf.  D.  myt,  M.  D.  mite.  Cf.  myt— 
insect. 

mob — a  woman's  nightcap.  Cf.  mobcap.  From  D- 
mopmuts — nightcap. 

to  moor — to  fasten  a  ship  by  cable  and  anchor.  Cf. 
mooring,  marline.  From  D.  meren — to  fasten. 
Lat.  mora — delay.  Cf.  D.  meertouw,  meering, 
meerpaal.  Perhaps  moerscreiv,  a  contraction  of 
moeder.  Cf.  vastmoeren,  has  had  some  influence 
in  deriving  the  Eng.  word  from  the  D. 

mop — a  grimace,  to  grimace.  Cf.  Shakespeare. 
From  D.  mop — grimace.  Cf.  Eng.  to  mope. 

to  mope — to  be  dull  or  dispirited.  Cf.  mopish.  Cf. 
Eng.  mop.  From  D.  mop,  moppen.  Cf.  D.  mop- 
peren. 

morass — a  swamp,  bog.  From  D.  moeras.  The  M. 
D.  marasch,  M.  Eng.  mar  els,  Eng.  marish  are 
taken  from  the  Fr.  marais.  The  younger  forms 
of  the  Germanic  languages  D.  maeras,  H.  G. 
morast,  originated  by  thinking  of  maer.  The  Eng. 
morass  is  probably  derived  from  D.  moeras. 

mow — a  grimace  (Cf.  Shakespeare).  From  Fr. 
moue,  and  this  from  M.  D.  mouwe — a  thick  lip. 

mud — mire.  M.  Eng!  mud.  From  O.  L.  G.  mudder. 
Cf.  D.  modder. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      133 

to  muddle — to    confuse.      A    frequentative    of    Eng. 

mud;  to  confuse.    From  O.  L.  G.  Fries,  muddelen. 

Cf.  Eng.  to  mud. 
muffle — to  cover  up  warmly.      From    O.    Fr.    mofle, 

moufle,  and  this  from  O.  L.  G.    Cf.  D.  mof,  moffel. 
mummer — a  masker,  a  buffoon.     From  O.  Fr.  mom- 

meur,  and  this  from  D.  mommer,  mom.     Cf.  D. 

vermommen,  mommelen.     Cf.  Eng.  mummery,  D. 

mommery. 
to  mump — to  mumble,  to  whine,  to  sulk,  to  beg.     Cf. 

a  mumper — beggar.     Cf.  Beaumont  and  Fletcher, 

Pedro.    From  D.  mompelen,  mommelen — to  growl, 

to  hum.     This  is  a  frequentative  of  mommen,  sich 

vermommen,  to  speak  within  one's  teeth,  to  make 

oneself  irrecognisable.     Cf.  mom-mask.     Cf.  Eng. 

mumps, 
mumps — a  swelling  of  the  glands  of  the  neck.     The 

disease  renders  speaking  and  eating  difficult  and 

gives  the  patient  the  appearance  of  being  sulky. 

Derived  from  Mump.     In  D.  they  call  it  bof.     Cf. 

Eng.  mump, 
mute — to  dung,  used  of  birds.     From  O.  Fr.  mutir, 

esmeltir,  and  this  from  O.  L.  G.     Cf.  D.  smelten. 
nag — a  small  horse.    M.  Eng.  nagge.    From  O.  L.  G. 

Cf.  D.  negghe  in  Kiliaen.     Cf.  Eng.  to  neigh, 
nick — a  small  notch.     From  O.  L.  G.     Cf.  Eng.  to 

notch, 
notch,  nock — an  indentation.      M.   Eng.   nokke.     Cf. 

to  notch.     From  O.  L.  G.     Cf.  D.  nocke — notch 

in  an  arrow  to  put  it  on  the  string.     Kiliaen.     Cf. 

Eng.  nick, 
to  ogle — to  look  at  sideways,  to  glance  at.     A  verb 

found   since  the  latter  part  of  the   I7th  century. 

From  D.  oogelen.     Tho  the  frequentative  oogelen, 

from  oogen,  is  not  found    in    D.,    it    may    have 


134      WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

existed  formerly.     (The  use  of  it  by  Beets  is  an 

independent    case.)       It     is     found     in     Meyer's 

Woordenschat,  oogeler. 

oom — uncle.     South  African.     From  D.  oom. 
orlop — a  deck  of  a  ship.     Maritime  term.     From  D. 

overlap e — overloop. 
ort,  orts — leaving,  morsel  left  at  a  meal.     From  O. 

L.  G.  Fries,  ort.     Cf.  D.  orte,  oorte — leaving. 
to  outspan — to  unharness ;  Cf .  een  ontspan — a  place 

in  the  field  where  one  unharnesses.    Cf.  to  ins  pan. 

South  African.     From  D.  nitspannen. 
owlglass — Cf.  Holliglass. 
pad — a  thief  on  the  high  road.     Cf.  footpad,  padnag. 

Cf.   Massinger.     A  new  way  to    pay    old    debts. 

From  D.  pad — road,  path. 
to  pamper — to  glut.     From  O.  L.   G.  slamp-ampen. 

Cf.  D.  pampelen,  slamp-ampen. 
patch — a  paltry  fellow.     Cf.  Shakespeare.     From  O. 

L.  G.    Cf.  Eng.  patch.    The  meaning  was  a  clown, 

so  called  after  his  patched  or  motley  coat. 
patch — a  piece  sewn  on  a  garment.    Cf.  to  patch.    M. 

Eng.  pacche.     Cf.  to  stretch  and  D.  strekken.     A 

syncopized  form  of  D.  plak. 
paw — the  foot  of  a  beast  of  prey.     From  O.  Fr.  poe, 

and  this  from  O.  L.  G.     Cf.  D.  poot. 
to  peer — to  pry.     M.  Eng.  piren.     Cf.  Shakespeare. 

From  O.  L.  G.  piren. 
pink — a  kind  of  boat,  a  fishing-boat.    From  D.  pink — 

fishing  boat.     The  origin  is  uncertain. 
pitchyard—a.  signal,  a  flag.     A  kind  of  commando- 
flag,  used  as  signal  to  get  on  board.     From  D. 

pitsjaar,    derived    from    Malay    bitjara — counsel. 

First  used  as  the  signal  of  an  admiral's  ship,  when 

the  admiral  wanted  to  hold  a  council. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      135 

placard — a  bill  stuck  up  as  an  advertisement.  From 
Fr.  placard,  Cf.  plaqner,  and  this  from  D.  plakken. 

plash — a  puddle.  M.  Eng.  plasche.  From  O.  L.  G. 
Fries,  plasse.  Cf.  D.  plas. 

plump — full,  round,  fleshy.  M.  Eng.  plomp — rude, 
clownish.  Cf.  Caxton,  Reynard  the  Fox.  From 
D.  plomp — rude,  clownish.  M/  D.  plomp — shape- 
less, blunt. 

to  pry — to  peer,  gaze.  M.  Eng.  pry  en.  The  same 
word,  through  metathesis,  as  to  peer.  Cf.  Eng. 
to  peer. 

quacksalver — a  quack  who  puffs  up  his  salves  or  oint- 
ments. From  D.  kwakzalver.  Cf.  kwaken, 
kwakken. 

quail — a  migratory  bird.  M.  Eng.  quaille.  From  O. 
Fr.  quaille.  From  Lat.  quaquila,  and  this  from 
L.  G.  Cf.  D.  kwakkel,  kivartel,  wachtel. 

queer — strange,  odd.     From  O.   L.  G.  queer,  quere. 

quyteskylle — to  acquit  of.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard. 
From  M.  D.  quiteschelden.  D.  kwytschelden.  Cf. 
Eng.  to  scold. 

rabbit — a  small  quadruped.  From  D.  robbe.  The 
Eng.  word  is  cony.  Cf.  dial.  Fr.  robette,  rabotte. 

rabble — a  noisy  crowd,  mob.  M.  Eng.  rablen — to 
speak  confusedly.  From  O.  L.  G.  Fries,  rabbeln. 
Cf.  D.  rabbelen. 

rail — a  bar  of  timber,  of  iron.  From  O.  L.  G.  Cf. 
D.  regel,  richel. 

to  rant — to  use  violent  language.  Cf.  Shakespeare. 
From  M.  D.  rant  en — to  speak,  to  rage.  Origin 
uncertain. 

to  ravel — to  untwist,  to  unweave.  Cf.  to  unravel, 
Cf.  Shakespeare.  From  D.  rafelen.  Already  de- 
rived early.  Origin  unknown. 


136      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

reef — a  portion  of  a  sail  that  can  be  drawn  close  to- 
gether.    Cf.   In   Surrey:    ryft.     From   D.   reef— 

a  small  portion  of  a  sail.     Cognated  with  rib. 
reef — a   ridge  of  rocks.     From   D.  rib,  of  the  verb 

ryven,  and  therefore:  a  split  mass  of  rocks. 
rider — a  Dutch  coin,  worth  about  24  shillings.    From 

D.  ryder — gold  coin,  worth  about  $5.80. 
to  reeve — to  pass  the  end  of  a  rope  through  a  hole 

or  ring.     A  maritime  term.     From  D.  reven — to 

fasten  the  sails.     Cf.  Eng.  reef, 
riv-dollar — the  name  of  a  coin.     Cf.  Evelyn's  Diary, 

1641.     From  D.  rykdaalder.     Cf.  Eng.  dollar, 
rover — a  pirate,  a  wanderer.     M.  Eng.  rover,  rovare. 

Cf.  to  rove — to  wander.     From  D.  roover,  rooven. 

Cf.  Eng.  to  bereave, 
to  ruffle — to  be  noisy,  a  ruffle.     From  D.  roffelen — 

frequentative     of     r  off  en — to     carry     something 

through  by  force. 
rummer — a    sort    of    drinking    glass.      Cf.    Dryden. 

From  D.  roemer. 
to  rutsele — dial,  to  slide.     From  D.  rut  sen,  rutselen — 

to  slide.     Cf.  Van  den  Vos  Reinaerde. 
scalp — the  skin  of  the  head.     M.  Eng.  scalp.     From 

O.  L.  G.     Cf.  D.  schelp. 
scoff — a  taunt.    M.  Eng.  scof.    From  O.  L.  G.  Fries. 

skoff.     D.  schoppen.     Cf.  Eng.  to  scoff, 
to  scold — to  rail  at.     From  O.  L.  G.  Fries,  schelden. 

Cf.  D.  schold,  schelden. 
scorbutic — pertaining    to    or    afflicted    with    scurvy. 

From  Lat.  scorbutus,  and  this  from  L.  G.  schor- 

bock.     Cf.  D.  scheurbuik. 
selvage,    selvedge — a    border    of    cloth.      From    D. 

selvegge,  D.  zelfkant.     M.  D.   egge — sharp  edge. 

Eng.   edge.     In   Groningen   people   still   call  zelf- 
kant, zclfegge.     So  called  to  distinguish  it  from 

the  real  border. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED      137 

to  sheer — to  deviate  from  one's  course.  A  naval  ex- 
pression. From  D.  scheren,  wegscheren.  Cf.  D. 
scheerje  weg.  Cf.  Eng.  sheer  off. 

shock — a  pile  of  sheaves  of  corn.  From  O.  L.  G. 
schock.  .  Cf.  D.  schok — sixty. 

shock — a  violent  shake.  M. -Eiig.  schokken.  From 
D.  schok,  schokken.  Cf.  Fr.  choquer. 

to  shudder — to  tremble  with  fear  of  horror.  From 
O.  L.  G.  Fries,  schuddern.  Cf.  D.  schuddcn. 

skate,  scatc — a  frame  of  wood  or  iron  with  a  steel 
ridge,  beneath  it,  for  sliding  on  ice.  The  singu- 
lar ought  to  be  skates.  People  thought  the  "s" 
was  the  ending  of  the  plural.  Cf.  Eng.  pea, 
cherry.  From  D.  schaats.  Origin  uncertain. 

sketch — a  rough  draught,  an  outline.  Cf.  Dryden. 
From  D.  schets,  and  this  from  Italian  schizzo. 

skew — oblique,  wry.  Cf.  M.  Eng.  skewen — to  turn 
aside.  From  O.  L  G.  Cf.  D.  schnzv.  Cf.  Eng. 
skezvbald,  askeiv. 

skipper — the  master  of  a  ship.     From  D.  schipper. 

to  slabber — to  slaver.  From  O.  L.  G.  Fries,  slabbern. 
Cf.  D.  slabben,  slobberen. 

slender — thin,  feeble.  From  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D. 
verslinden. 

to  slepe — to  drag.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard.  From 
M.  D.  slepen.  D.  sleepcn. 

slim — weak,  slender,  thin,  slight,  cunning.  Only 
found  lately.  Especially  in  the  Lincolnshire 
dialect.  From  D.  slim.  Cf.  D.  slimme  wegen,  een 
slim  geval.  M.  D.  stem.  Origin  unknown. 

sloop — a  one-masted  ship.  From  D.  sloap.  Origin 
unknown. 

slot — a  broad,  wooden  bar,  bolt  of  a  door.  From  O. 
L;  G.  Fries,  slot.  Cf.  D.  slot. 


138      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

sloven — a  careless,  lazy  person.  M.  Eng.  sloveyn. 
Cf.  Coventry  Mysteries.  From  D.  slof — slow.  Cf. 
D.,  sluipen. 

smack — a  fishing-boat.  From  D.,  smak — a  vessel 
which  is  used  for  fishing  or  coasting-trade  in  the 
North  Sea.  Origin  unknown. 

smous — dial.  Suffolk — a  Jew.  From  D.  smous,  and 
this  from  Jewish  German :  Mausche,  i.  e.,  Moses. 

snaffle — a  bridle  with  a  piece  confining  the  nose  and 
with  a  slender  mouth-piece.  Cf.  Sir  Th.  More's 
Works.  From  D.  snavel,  sneb.  Cf.  D.  snappen. 

to  snap — to  bite  suddenly,  to  snatch  up.  Cf.  Shakes- 
peare. Cf.  snappish,  snap-dragon;  to  snap — to 
break  suddenly,  to  seize.  From  D.  snappen.  Cf. 
D.  snavel. 

to  snip — to  cut  off  with  shears  or  scissors.  Cf. 
Shakespeare.  Cf.  snip-snap.  From  D.  snippen, 
snipperen.  Cf.  snavel  and  snappen,  and  there- 
fore: to  pick  to  pieces  with  the  bill. 

snot — mucus  from  the  nose.  M.  Eng.  snotte.  From 
O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D.  snot,  snniten. 

snow — a  ship,  a  kind  of  brig.  Cf.  Falconer.  From 
D.  snauw — a  ship  with  two  masts;  ship  with  a 
bill.  Cf.  D.  sncfvel. 

to  snuff — to  draw  in  air  violently  through  the  nose,  to 
smell.  From  D.  snuff  en,  snuiven,  snuffelen. 

spa — a  place  with  a  spring  of  mineral  water.  After 
the  name  of  the  place,  Spa,  near  Liege,  Belgium. 

spellicans — a  game  played  with  thin  slips  of  wood. 
From  D.  spelleken,  speldeken — wooden  pin. 

spinde — a  pantry,  or  larder,  dial.  From  D.  spinde — 
pantry. 

to  splice — to  join  two  rope-ends  by  interweaving. 
Naval  expression.  From  D.  split  sen,  splitten,  in- 
tensive of  D.  splyten — to  split. 


WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED      139 

spool,  M.  Eng.  spole.     A  reel  for  winding  yarn  on. 

Introduced    into    England    by    Flemish    weavers. 

From  D.  spoel.     Cf.  Fries,  spole. 
spoor — a  trail.    From  D.  spoor,  of  a  wild  beast. 
to   sprout — to   shoot  out   germs.     M.   Eng.   spruten. 

From  O.  L.  G.,  cf.  O.  Fries,  sprute,    D.  spruit, 
stadtholder — Lord  Lieutenant,  title'  of  the  Princes  of 

Orange.     From  D.  stadhouder. 
spynde — a  pantry.     Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard.  From 

M.  D.  spynde — spinde — pantry.     Cf.  Lat.  spenda; 

expendere,  Eng.   to  spend.     D.  spandeeren,  spys. 

Cf.  spinde. 
staple — a   chief   commodity.      From    Fr.    estaple   and 

this  from  L.  G.  stapel.     Cf.  D.  stapel. 
to  stay — to  remain,  to  wait.     Cf.  Eng.  staid— calm, 

serious.     From  O.  Fr.  estayer — to  assist,  to  help, 

and  this  from  D.  staai,  stade — assistance,  leisure, 

opportunity.     Cf.  te  stade  komen. 
to  stipple — to  engrave  by  means  of  dots.     From  D. 

stippelen,  frequentative  of  stippen. 
stiver — a  Dutch  penny.     From  D.  stuiver. 
stoker — one  who  tends  the  fire.     Cf.  to  stoke.     From 

D.  stoker.     Cf.  steken. 
stout — bold,   strong.     M.   Eng.  stout.     From  O.   Fr. 

estout  and  this  from  O.  L.  G.    Cf.  M.  D.  stout, 
strand — a  string  of  a  rope.     With  a  paragogic  "d". 

From  D.  streen.     M.  D.  strene.     Cf.  D.  striem. 
stripe — streak,  a  blow  with  a  whip.     From  D.  stryp, 

streep. 
to  strive — to  struggle,  to  contend.     Originally  a  weak 

verb  in  the  Eng.     M.  Eng.  striven.     From  O.  F. 

estriver  and  this  from  D.  sir  even — to  try,  to  con- 
tend. 
stitf — dust.     Cf.   1481,  Caxton,  Reynard.     From  M. 

D.  stof. 


140      WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED 

sturgeon— a.     large     fish.        From      Fr.      esturgeon, 

etourgeon  and  this  from  D.  steiir.     M.  D.  store, 
supper — a  meal  at  the  close  of  the  day.     M.   Eng. 

soper,  super.     From  O.  Fr.  soper,  super  and  this 

from  O.  L.  G.    Cf.  D.  suipen.    M.  D.  sup  en. 
sutler — one     who     sells     provisions     in     camp.      Cf. 

Shakespeare.      From    D.   zoetelaar — soedelen;   cf. 

zieden,  koken,  therefore:   eating-house-keeper. 
swab — to  clean  the  deck.     Cf.  Shakespeare.     Cf.  D. 

swabber.     Eng.    swab    from    D.   sivabberen,    fre- 

qentative  of  zwabben. 
switch — a  small  flexible  twig.    Cf.  Shakespeare.  From 

D.  sivik — a  twig.     Cf.  D.  swikken. 
taffcrel,  taffrail — the  upperpart  of  the  stern  of  a  ship. 

From  D.  tafereel — tafeleel  and  this  from  D.  tafel, 

which  is  derived  from  Lat.  tabula, 
tallow — fat  of  animals  melted.     M.  Eng.  talgh.    From 

O.  L.  G.     Cf.  D.  talk, 
tampion — kind  of  plug.     From  Fr.  tampon  and  this 

from  L.  G.     Cf.  D.  tap. 
tang — a     strong     taste.     From     D.     tanger — strong, 

biting.     Cf.  D.  tenger,  taai.     Origin  uncertain. 
tattoo — spelled  in  1627  taptoo — the  beat  of  drum  re- 
calling soldiers  to  their  quarters.     From  D.  taptoe 

— doe  den  tap  toe. 
to  tiff — to  deck,  dress  out.     From  O.  Fr.  tiffer  and 

this  from  O.  L.  G.     Cf.  D.   tippen.     Cf.  D.  het 

haar  tippen. 
to  toot — to  blow  a  horn.     From  O.   L.  G.     Cf.   D. 

toeten. 
touch-wood — wood    for    taking    fire    from    a    spark; 

touch  is  a  corruption  of  M.  Eng.  tache,  tach.  From 

L.  G.     Cf.  D.  tak.     Therefore  the  meaning  really 

is:  tak  (-branch)  or  stokhout  (stick-wood). 


WHAT  INFLUENCE   HOLLAND   EXERTED      141 

toy — a  plaything.  Cf.  Shakespeare.  Cf.  to  toy — to 
trifle,  dally.  From  D.  tuig,  cf.  speelting.  Cf. 
tie  gen,  to  draw. 

to  trek — to  go  to  another  place.  South  African.  Cf. 
trekboer.  From  D.  trekken. 

trick — a  stratagem,  fraud,  parcel  xof  cards  won  at 
once,  lineament.  Cf.  Shakespeare.  Cf.  to  trick — • 
to  dress  out,  to  adorn,  to  blazon.  From  D.  trek, 
in  many  meanings. 

trigger — tricker — a  catch,  which,  when  pulled,  lets 
fall  the  hammer  "or  cock  of  a  gun.  From  D. 
trekker. 

trinket,  trinquet — the  highest  sail  of  a  ship.  From 
Fr.  trinquet;  this  from  Sp.  trinquete  and  this  from 
D.  strikken  with  loss  of  the  "s". 

tub — a  small  cask.  M.  Eng.  tubbe,  cf.  Chaucer.  In- 
troduced into  England  by  Flemish  brewers.  From 
D.  tobbe,  M.  D.  tubbe,  cf.  Fries,  tubbe. 

to  tuck — to  draw  close  together.  From  O.  L.  G.  Cf. 
D.  tokken — to  draw,  to  attract. 

to  tug — to  pull,  to  drag.  From  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  D. 
tokken,  tiegen. 

twill — woven  stuff  with  an  appearance  of  diagonal 
lines  in  textile  fabrics.  From  D.  twillen. 

ungheluch — unhappiness.  Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard. 
From  M.  D.  ongheluck.  D.  ongeluk. 

unto — to,  M.  Eng.  unto.  It  consists  of  und+to.  Und 
from  O.  L.  G.  Cf.  O.  Fries,  und.  Goth.  und. 
Cf.  until 

uproar — a  tumult,  disturbance.  Cf.  Shakespeare. 
From  D.  oproer. 

veldt — field.     South  African.     From  D.  veld. 

volksraad — the  People's  council;  an  elected  legisla- 
tive body.  South  African.  From  D.  volksraad. 

vrouw — woman.     South  African.    From  D.  vrouw. 


142      WHAT  INFLUENCE  HOLLAND   EXERTED 

vysevase — a     folly,     a     whim.      Cf.     1481,     Caxton, 

Reynard.     From  M.  D.  vysevase.    Cf.  D.  fazelen, 

vazen,  feziken. 
wafer — a  thin  small  cake.     M.  Eng.  ivafre.    From  O. 

Fr.  waufre,  gaufre  and  this  from  O.  L.  G.     Cf. 

D.  wafel,  weven. 

wagon,  waggon — a  wain,  vehicle  for  goods.  Cf.  Spen- 
ser.    The  Eng.  form  of  this  word  is  wain,  A.  S. 

waegn.    From  D.  wag  en. 
wainscot — panelled  boards  on  the  walls  of  rooms,  cf. 

Shakespeare.     From  D.  ivagenschot — wandeschot; 

wagen  by  folk  etymology  from  Fries,  weeg-wall; 

A.  S.  wah — wooden  wall. 
walnut — a  foreign  nut.    The  first  syllable  is  the  name 

Waal     Cf.  Wales,  Cornwall. 
wapper — cudgel.     Cf.  1481,  Caxton,  Reynard.    From 

M.  D.  wappere — cudgel. 
water-gueux — a  name  first  given  in  contempt  to  the 

Protestant  nobles  and  afterwards  adopted  by  va- 
rious bodies  of  Dutch  in  the  wars  with   Spain. 

From  D.  watergeus. 
wentele — to  twist,  to  turn  round.     Cf.   1481,  Caxton, 

Reynard.     From  M.  D.  zuentelen — to  turn. 
wig — periwig — a  peruke.     From  D.  peruyk  and  this 

from  Fr.  perrigue.    Cf.  D.  pruik. 
wreck — destruction,  ruin,  cf.  shipwreck.     Already  in 

the    1 3th    century.      M.    Eng.    zvreck.      From    D. 

wrak — damaged,  a  damaged  ship.    Cf.  D.  getuigen 

wraken. 
yacht — a   swift   pleasure   boat.      Cf.    Evelyn's    Diary 

1661.     From  D.  jacht,  jachtship,  fast  ship.     Cf. 

D.  jag  en. 
yawl — a  small  boat.     From  D.  jol — small  vessel. 


PART  III 

The  Influence  of  the  Netherlands  on 
English  Literature 


CHAPTER  XII 
ON  CEDMON 

The  name  of  Csedmon  is  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent in  the  history  of  early  English  literature. 
Everybody  knows  the  beautiful  poems  of  old 
Christian  England  on  "the  beginning  of  created 
things"  in  paraphrases  on  Genesis  (Chap.  I-XX1I) 
extending  to  the  story  of  the  sacrifice  of  Isaac  by 
Abraham,  on  Exodus  (Chap.  II-XV),  on  Daniel, 
and  the  three  minor  poems,  the  first  one  dealing  with 
the  Fall  of  the  Angels,  the  second  one  with  Christ's 
Harrowing  of  Hell,  and  the  third  one  with  Christ's 
Temptation.  "No  one  would  today  seriously  main- 
tain even  that  these  poems  are  all  by  one  author ;  it 
is  more  likely  that  more  than  one  writer  has  had  a 
hand  in  each."1  One  interpolated  part,  in  the  second 
version  of  the  Fall  of  the  Angels  in  the  paraphrases 
on  Genesis,  has  been  brought  into  connection  with  the 
author  of  the  Heliand.2  And  as  the  Heliand  was 
probably  written  under  the  immediate  suggestion  of 
Ludger,3  the  great  Dutch  missionary  among  the  Sax- 
ons along  the  borderline  of  Holland  and  Germany, 

1  The  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature,  I,  50. 

2  Sievers,  Der  Heliand  und  die  Angelsachsische  genesis. 

3  On   Ludger  see  the  first  chapters. 

143 


144  ON   C^EDMON 

we  may  see  in  the  poems  of  Caedmon  "a  fruitful  ex- 
change of  literary  ideas"  between  England,  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  western  part  of  Germany  during 
the  first  half  of  the  ninth  century. 

But  there  is  another  interesting  point,  viz.,  the 
question  how  these  poems  of  Csedmon,  as  they  are 
generally  called,  became  first  a  subject  of  study,  how 
they  were  published,  and  became  at  last  a  subject  of 
discussion  in  every  textbook  of  English  Literature. 
This  has  been  as  a  whole  the  work  of  the  well-known 
Dutch  scholar,  Franciscus  Junius.1  During  his  so- 
journ in  England,  Junius  collected  transcripts  of  many 
old  English  manuscripts,  and  in  the  year  1649  he  got 
from  Archbishop  Ussher  a  copy  of  the  manuscript 
containing  the  poems,  which  Junius,  in  consequence  of 
the  description  given  by  Bede  of  a  certain  poet 
Grdmon  and  his  poems,  called  the  poems  of  Cced- 
mon,  and  under  that  name  published  them  in  the 
year  1655  at  Amsterdam,2  so  that  these  famous  poems 
were  first  studied  by  a  Dutchman,  and  were  first 
printed  in  Holland. 

1  On  Junius,  see  our  first  chapters. 

2  "Diese  Veroffentlichung  war  bahnbrechend  fur  die  Entschliessung 
der    Angelsachsischen    Poesie,    da    mit    Ausnahme    eines    unbedeutenden 
Stiickes    bis    dahin    nur    prosaische    Denkmahler    herausgegeben    waren." 
Herman  Paul.     Grundriss,  I,  35. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ON  THE  STORIES  OF  KING  ARTHUR,,  AND  THE  FRENCH 
ROMANCES  OF  CHIVALRY  IN  ENGLAND 

The  stories  of  King  Arthur  were  written  orig- 
inally, as  far  as  we  know,  in  Latin  by  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth  about  the  year  1140.  From  Latin,  this 
collection  of  Welsh  and  English  legends  was  trans- 
lated into  French  verse  by  a  Frenchman  called  Wace. 
And  from  the  French  they  were  translated  into 
English  by  the  well-known  Layamon  in  his  Brut.  Now 
the  French  language  was  the  official  language  in 
England  from  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest  in 
the  year  1066,  till  the  year  1362,  when  English  was 
made  the  language  of  the  law  courts,  and  the  year 
1386  when  English  displaced  French  in  the  schools. 
During  three  hundred  years  (from  1066  till  1362), 
the  French  language  was  the  language  of  the  upper 
classes  in  England — the  language  of  those  classes  who 
read  books  and  studied  literature.  During  those  three 
centuries  it  was  the  French  romances  of  chivalry, 
telling  the  stories  of  King  Arthur,  and  his  round 
table,  of  Charlemagne,  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and 
the  story  of  the  siege  of  Troy,  which  formed  the 
reading  and  the  main  literature  of  the  higher  edu- 
cated classes  in  England.  Now,  in  composing  these 
French  romances  of  chivalry,  including  many  of  the 
Arthurian  legends,  the  Southern  Netherlands  had  a 
good  share.  Not  only  did  many  of  the  stories  orig- 
inate in  the  Netherlands,  where  the  cradle  of  the 
Carolingians  was  to  be  found  at  Herstal,  and  where 
10  145 


146         ON    THE   STORIES   OF   KING   ARTHUR 

Charlemagne  had  his  residence  at  Ninwegen,  but 
some  of  the  best  poets  who  told  these  romances  lived 
there.  Chretien  de  Troyes,  one  of  the  most  famous  of 
these  poets,  lived  for  some,  years  at  the  court  of  the 
Count  of  Flanders;  he  died  about  the  year  1175;  and 
he  wrote  at  least  five  Arthur  romances,  entitled  Erec 
and  Enide,  Cliges,  Le  Chevalier  de  la  Charette 
(Lancelot),  le  Chevalier  au  Lion  (Yvain),  and  le 
conte  du  Saint-Graal  (Perceval).1  Other  poets,  as 
Adam  de  la  Halle  and  Jehan  Bodel,  lived  at  Atrecht 
in  the  Southern  Netherlands.  The  setting  of  many  of 
these  romances  is  in  the  Netherlands,  and  no  doubt 
the  civilization  and  the  conditions  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries have  been  a  prevailing  influence  for  the  poets 
who  lived  there.2 

How  far  the  works  of  Jacob  van  Maerlant  (1235- 
1300)  had  influence  in  England  is  not  yet  decided. 
We  know  that  there  was  all  the  time  a  close  and  fre- 
quent intercourse  between  the  Netherlands  and 
England.  We  know  that  Maerlant,  whose  poems,  now 
all  printed,  cover  not  less  than  226,000  lines,  criticized 
the  corruption  of  the  clergy,  and  the  oppression  of 
the  poor  under  the  feudal  system,  long  before  Wil- 
liam Langland  in  1362  did  the  same  in  England,  by 
writing  his  "Vision  Concerning  Piers,  the  Plough- 
man" ;  we  know  that  Maerlant  translated  the  Bible, 
in  rhymed  verse,  into  the  Dutch  vernacular  long  before 
Wicliff  translated  the  Bible  into  English  in  1380.  But 
how  far  this  reformatory  and  democratic  movement 
in  the  Netherlands  was  the  cause  of  the  same  move- 
ment in  England  more  than  half  a  century  later,  re- 
mains for  historical  and  literary  research  to  discover. 

1  W.  J.  A.  Jonckbloet,  Geschiedenis  der  Nederlandsche  Letterkunde, 
I,    117- 

2  For   further   information   see  the  quoted   works  of  Jonckbloet  and 
Kalff. 


ON   THE   STORIES   OF  KING   ARTHUR        147 

The  same  we  must  say  about  any  probable  influ- 
ence of  the  literary  movement  in  the  Southern  " 
Netherlands  on  Chaucer.  We  know  that  Chaucer  was 
well  acquainted  with  France  and.  Italy;  that  he  was 
not  at  all  a  stranger  on  the  continent ;  that  very  prob- 
ably he  may  have  visited  Flanders,  and  have  come  in 
contact  with  the  literary  circles  in 'the  Netherlands; 
but  here  also  is  a  field  still  to  be  explored  and  about 
which  we  can  only  conjecture,  not  decide.  We  know 
that  Chaucer  was  closely  connected  with  the  court  of 
Edward  III,  and  even  that  he  bore  arms  in  Edward 
Ill's  expedition  into  France,  while  Edward  was  very 
familiar  with  the  Flemish  cities,  and  with  the  Count 
of  Holland,  who  brought  him  to  the  throne,  and  whose 
daughter,  Philippa,  he  married ;  we  know  that  he 
made  a  treaty  with  them,  and  tried  to  persuade  his 
Flemish  supporters  to  accept  his  son,  the  Black 
Prince,  as  their  sovereign.  But  historical  and  literary 
researches  in  this  field  have  hardly  been  begun,  and 
we  can  only  infer  from  the  well-known  general 
conditions  and  relations  that  some  considerable  influ- 
ence may  have  been  exerted. 

During  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries, 
when  modern  democracy  arose  in  the  free  cities  of  the 
Southern  Netherlands,  where  at  that  time  wealth  and 
luxury  was  being  accumulated,  when  the  religious 
movement  of  the  Reformation  took  the  leadership  of 
this  democracy,  there  was  a  development  of  literary 
life  in  the  Netherlands  of  which  one  hardly  gets  an 
adequate  idea.  The  literary  societies,  called  Chambres 
de  Rhetorique,  were  so  numerous,  and  so  flourishing, 
in  every  one  of  the  Flemish  gities,  and  the  miracle 
plays  and  morality  plays — those  precursors  of  our 
modern  drama — were  written  in  such  numbers  that 
their  influence  on  the  whole  people,  and  on  the  lit- 


148        ON   THE  STORIES   OF  KING   ARTHUR 

erature  of  other  nations,  especially  of  England,  must 
have  been  much  larger  than  as  yet  is  generally  known. 
We  know,  for  instance,  that  one  poet,  by  the  name  of 
Thomas  de  Kasteleyne,  wrote  more  than  one  hundred 
plays,  and  that  the  land- jewels,  where  sometimes  more 
than  thirty  guilds  of  Rhetoric  met  in  competition,  were 
great  attractions  at  that  time,  when,  according  to  all 
historians;  England  was  very  far  behind  in  civiliza- 
tion, in  industry,  in  trade,  in  art  and  in  literature. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
ON  WILLIAM  CAXTON 

William  Caxton  is  the  famous  name  connected 
with  the  introduction  of  the  printing  press  into  Eng- 
land. Caxton  printed  more  than  one  hundred  books. 
"A  greater  benefactor,  indeed,  to  the  intellectual  im- 
provement of  his  country  it  would  be  difficult  to  men- 
tion than  him,  who  introduced  the  art  of  printing." 
His  four  hundredth  anniversary  was  celebrated  in 
England  on  the  i8th  of  November,  1877,  that  date 
having  been  adopted  as  marking  the  introduction  of 
printing  into  England,  because,  according  to  the 
unique  colophon  of  a  copy  of  the  "Dictes  and  Sayinges 
of  the  Philosophers"  this  work  was  published  on  the 
1 5th  of  November,  1477,  while  the  date  of  the  earliest 
publications  of  Caxton  is  unknown.  "For  many  years 
an  old  building,  which  tumbled  down  in  1846,  was 
pointed  out  as  Caxton's  house,  but  it  was  proved  to 
be  no  older  than  the  time  of  Charles  the  Second. 
This  did  not  prevent  parts  of  the  woodwork  being 
made  into  walking-sticks  and  snuff-boxes,  and  pre- 
sented to  various  patrons  of  literature  as  genuine 
relics  of  our  famous  printer."1 

Born  in  "Kent  in  the  Weeld,"  a  place  about  the 
situation  of  which  topographers  do  not  agree,  and  at 
a  date  (perhaps  1420)  unknown  till  this  day,  Wil- 
liam Caxton  was  educated  to  be  a- merchant.  In  the 
year  1438  he  was  entered  apprentice  to  Robert  Large, 

1  F.  C.  Price,  Facsimiles  with  a  Memoir  of  our  first  Printer.  London, 
1877.  Printed  only  in  125  copies. 

149 


150  ON    WILLIAM   CAXTON 

who,  in  the  next  year,  became  Lord  Mayor  of  Lon- 
don, and  died  in  1441.  One  year  after  the  death  of 
his  master,  Caxton  went  abroad  and  lived  at  Bruges, 
the  Burgundian  Capital  in  the  Southern  Netherlands, 
and  he  stayed  there  for  the  following  thirty-five  years, 
with  the  exception  of  some  short  visits  to  London, 
Cologne  and  perhaps  some  other  places.  As  a  youth 
of  twenty  years,  Caxton  came  to  the  Netherlands; 
as  a  man  of  fifty-five  he  went  back  to  England,  to 
spend  there  the  remaining  fourteen  years  of  his  life, 
so  that  for  more  than  half  of  his  life  he  lived  in  the 
Netherlands.  In  1463  Caxton  became  what  they 
called  at  that  time  ' 'governor  of  the  English  nation" 
at  Bruges,  which  post  he  retained  till  the  year  1469; 
but  about  this  time  some  reverse  of  fortune  appar- 
ently befell  him,  by  which  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
Bruges  for  a  while.  But  in  the  year  1467  Count 
Charles  the  Bold  had  married  Margaret,  the  sister  of 
the  English  King,  Edward  IV,  and  now  we  know  that 
Caxton  "received  some  appointment  in  the  court  of 
the  English  wife  of  Charles  at  Bruges,  and  became 
a  favorite  with  the  noble  lady."1  Before  the  Princess 
Margaret  came  to  the  Netherlands,  Caxton,  having 
no  great  charge  or  occupation,  had  commenced  for 
his  amusement  the  translation  of  "Le  recueil  des  His- 
toires  de  Troye"  by  Raoul  le  Fevre,  from  French  into 
English,  but,  discouraged,  he  had  abandoned  the  task. 
This  he  told  one  time  to  Margaret  and  she,  as  he 
himself  tells  it,  not  only  encouraged  but  commanded 
him  to  continue  and  finish  the  work.  Caxton  obeyed 
and  the  translation  was  finished  in  1471.  The  work 
was  printed  at  Bruges  by  Caxton,  and  Colard  Man- 
sion, a  copyist  and  calligrapher,  who  about  that  time 
had  started  a  printing  office.  After  this  first  book, 
another  one  was  printed,  viz.,  "The  game  and  the 

1  Price,  Facsimiles  and  Memoir 


ON   WILLIAM   CAXTON  151 

playe  of  chesse  moralysed,"  and  soon  after  that  time 
Caxton  took  leave  of  the  land  of  his  adoption,  where 
he  had  lived  for  thirty-five  years,  and  arrived  at  Lon- 
don, "laden  with  a  freight  more  precious  than  the 
most  opulent  merchant  adventurer  ever  dreame3  of, 
to  endow  his  country  with  that  inestimable  blessing, 
the  printing  press."1 

"Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1476  or  in  the.  be- 
ginning of  1477  we  find  Caxton  in  occupation  at 
Westminster,  his  press  erected  in  the  Almonry.  At 
the  time  Caxton  started  in  England  his  whole  stock 
of  type  consisted  of  two  fonts,  or  sets  of  types,  a 
church  or  text  type,  and  a  secretary  type.  These 
fonts  he  purchased  in  the  Low  Countries  and  brought 
them  with  him."2  From  that  time  Caxton  began  the 
printing  of  a  series  of  at  least  one  hundred  works, 
which  continued  till  his  death  in  the  year  1491. 

As  a  young  apprentice  of  a  merchant's  office,  Cax- 
ton went  to  the  Netherlands,  and  after  thirty-five  years 
he  came  back  to  England  as  a  man,  acquainted  with 
book-printing,  with  the  literature,  the  language,  with 
the  whole  civilization  of  a  city  like  Bruges,  the  cap- 
ital of  the  Burgundian  Counts,  the  most  brilliant  and 
most  luxurious,  the  most  wealthy,  and  highly  civilized 
center  of  European  civilization,  at  that  time.  The 
fruits  of  his  thirty-five  years  of  abode  in  the  Nether- 
lands we  see  in  what  he  performed  during  the  re- 
maining fourteen  years  of  work  in  his  native  country. 
As  translator  and  as  printer  he  blessed  his  people 
with  the  literature,  and  the  civilization,  he  had  ob- 
served, and  made  himself  acquainted  with,  in  the 
Netherlands.  To  the  Dutch  language  he  was  so  ac- 
customed that  he  used  many  Dutch  words  (of  which 


1  Ibid. 

2  Price,  Facsimiles  and  Memoir. 


152  ON    WILLIAM   CAXTON 

De  Hoog  gives  a  list  of  ftvcnty  nine  examples)  as  if 
they  were  pure  English.  The  famous  animal-epos  of 
Reinard  the  Fox  he  translated,  not  from  the  original 
French,  but  from  the  Dutch  version,  which  is  "much 
superior  to  the  original  and  admittedly  the  finest  ver- 
sion of  the  Reynard  story."1 


pcan 


1  Herbert  J.  C.  Grierson,  in  vol.  VIII,  p.  5,  of  the  Periods  of  Euro- 
Literature,  by  Prof.   Saintsbury,  New  York,   1906. 


CHAPTER  XV 
ON  PROGNOSTICATIONS  OR  PROPHETIC  ALMANACS 

During  the  last  part  of  the  fifteenth,  and  the  whole 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  the  literature  of 
Prognostications  or  prophetic  almanacs  was  quite 
prominent  and  popular.  They  form  one  of  the  super- 
stitious extravagances  and  abuses  which  accompanied 
the  great  religious  movement  of  the  Reformation,  but 
which  had  their  origin  more  in  the  revival  of  the 
heathen  traditions  of  ancient  history,  which  was  fos- 
tered by  the  humanistic  movement  of  the  Renaissance. 
Martin  Luther  brought  these  astronomic  predictions 
to  ridicule  in  his  "Table-talk";  King  Henry  III  of 
France  prohibited,  in  1579,  the  making  of  political 
predictions  in  almanacs ;  in  England  satires  were  writ- 
ten against  them,  for  instance,  one  in  1544  entitled 
"A  Mery  Prognostication"  written  in  ridicule  of  those 
false  prognostications  against  which  Henry  the 
Eighth  considered  it  necessary  or  advisable  to  level 
a  proclamation.  Another  satire  of  the  same  kind  from 
the  year  1623  has  been  republished  by  James  O.  Halli- 
well,  London,  1860.  The  first  almanac  printed  in 
England  is  from  the  year  1497,  being  the  Calender 
of  Shepardis.  But  before  this  time,  and  also  in  later 
years,  they  were  introduced  in  England  from  the 
continent,  and  especially  from  the  Netherlands.  In 
the  year  1491,  Caspar  Laet,  physician  at  Antwerp, 
published  a  prognostication  written  in  Latin,  and  ded- 
icated to  William  Schevez,  archbishop  of  St.  Andrews. 
In  the  year  1515  the  same  Caspar  Laet  published  a 

153 


154  ON  PROGNOSTICATIONS 

"Prognostication  for  the  year  1516"  with  this  addi- 
tion :  "this  prognostication  of  Master  Jasper  Laet  of 
Borchloon,  doctour  of  astrologie,  of  the  year  1516,  is 
translated  into  English  by  Nicholas  Longwater."  Sev- 
eral years  later,  in  1534,  a  prognostication  of  the  same 
Flemish  author  was  published  in  English  as  "Prog- 
nostication by  Caspar  Late  of  Antwerpe,  calked  (cal- 
culated) upon  the  meridyan  of  the  same  citie  for  the 
year  of  our  Lorde  God."1 

Although  this  popular  literature  of  the  Prognosti- 
cations is  not  of  such  great  importance,  it  shows 
again,  like  the  story  of  Caxton,  that  at  that  time  the 
civilization  and  the  literature  of  The  Netherlands 
exerted  its  influence  on  England. 

1  W.  de  Hoog,  Studien,  II,  26. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
ON  THOMAS  A  KEMPIS 

Quite  different  from  that  of  the  Dutch  Prognosti- 
cations, was  the  influence  of  Thomas  a  Kempis  on 
the  spirit  of  the  English  people,  and,  consequently, 
on  the  expression  of  that  spirit  in  English  literature. 
The  Imitation  of  Christ,  by  Thomas  a  Kempis,  has  a 
world-wide  fame,  and  its  influence  can  hardly  be  over- 
estimated. "In  1828  M.  Languinais  reckoned  the 
editions  and  translations  of  the  "Imitation,"  a  book 
which  Johnson  said  the  world  had  opened  its  arms 
to  receive,  at  more  than  two  thousand.  He  saw  in 
the  library  of  the  Vatican,  translations  in  the  Catalan, 
Castilian,  Flemish,  Portuguese,  Dutch,  Bohemian, 
Polish,  Greek,  English,  Hungarian,  Illyrian,  Japanese, 
Chinese,  Arabic,  Turkish,  Armenian,  Persian,  and 
other  languages ;  so  that  the  words  of  Samuel  John- 
son, cited  in  the  preface,  "that  the  book  had  been 
reprinted  as  many  times  as  there  were  months  since 
its  first  production,"  are  not  exaggerated,  if  we  con- 
sider the  many  versions  which  have  been  printed  of 
this  singular  book."1  The  original  Latin  edition  was 
spread  over  all  Europe  since  the  time  of  its  first  ap- 
pearance in  the  year  1471.  English  editions  followed 
soon,  within  a  few  years  after  the  printing  press  was 
introduced  into  England.  We  find  at  least  the  fol- 
lowing English  editions: 

i.     Mayrtes,   William,   the   Imitation  or  the 
following   of   Christ.      London,    W.    de   Worde 

1  English  edition  of  Samson  Low,  Son  and  Marston.  London,  1865, 
Preface,  XXIII. 

155 


156  THOMAS  A   KEMPIS 

and  Rich.  Pinson  in  4°,  without  date,  probably 
about  the  end  of  the  I5th  century.  Reprinted 
by  Rich.  Pinson,  London,  1503. 

2.  Atkinson,  the  Imitation,  etc.,  Lon.  W.  de 
Worde  and  Pinson,  1504.    This  translation  was 
made  at  the  express  command  of  the  mother  of 
Henry  VII. 

3.  Hake,  Edward,  of  Gray's  Inn.    The  Imi- 
tation, or  following  of  Christ,  and  the  contend- 
ing-   of    worldly    vanities,    at    first    written    by 
Thomas    Kempise,    a   Dutchman,   amended   and 
polished  by  Sebastien  Castalio,  an  Italian,  and 
Englished  by  Edward  Hake,  London.  1567,  re- 
printed 1568. 

4.  Rogers,  Thomas.     The  Imitation  or  fol- 
lowing of  Christ,  1584.     This  contains  only  the 
first  three  books.     In  1592  Rogers  published  the 
fourth,  under  the  title  of  "Soliloquium  Animae." 
"The  Sole  Talke  of  Soule ;  or  a  Spiritual  and 
Heauenlie  Dialogue  between  the  Soule  of  Man 
and  God."     Reprinted  1596. 

5.  Page,    William.      The   Imitation   or   fol- 
lowing of  Christ,  London,  1597. 

6.  Milburne,  Luke.     The  Imitation  or  fol- 
lowing of  Christ,  translation  in  verse,  1697. 

7.  Stanhope,    Dean.      The   Christian's   Pat- 
tern, or  a  treatise  on  the  Imitation  of  Christ, 
6th  edition,  in  1708.     The  text  is  herein  much 
mutilated. 

8.  Payne,  John.     The  Imitation  of  Christ, 
1763,    in    8vo.      Dove    reproduced    this    in    his 
Classics.      Payne  was   a  government  clerk  and 
afterwards  a  bookseller.     Dibdin  has  used  this 
translation. 

9.  Challoner,   The  Rev.     The   Imitation  or 
following  of   Christ.     A   very   faithful   transla- 
tion, often  reprinted. 

10.  Dibdin,  Thomas  Frognall.     Of  the  Im- 
itation   of    Jesus    Christ,    translated    from    the 
Latin  original,   ascribed   to  Thomas  a   Kempis, 
with  an  introduction  and  notes.     William  Pick- 
ering, London,  printed  by  William  Nicol  at  the 
Shakespeare  Press,  1828. 


THOMAS  A   KEMPIS  157 

During  the  nineteenth  century  many  more  Eng- 
lish editions  were  published,  and  even  at  the  present 
time,  in  nearly  every  book  store,  in  America  as  well 
as  in  England,  an  English  version  of  the  Imitation  is 
in  stock. 

Not  without  reason  one  may  ask:  What  was  the 
attraction  of  this  wonderful  book?  What  was  its  in- 
fluence? What  was  the  spiritual  and  literary  move- 
ment, and  who  was  the  author  that  produced  this 
marvel  in  the  history  of  human  literature,  and  blessed 
with  it  the  Christian  world  of  the  I5th  century?  Let 
me  answer  these  questions  with  a  few  words. 

Its  attraction  is  in  the  wonderful  piety  and  hon- 
esty, the  simplicity  and  naivete  with  which  the  author 
speaks  to  the  very  heart  of  the  reader.  The  author's 
faith  is  so  thoroughly  that  of  a  Christian  "pure  and 
simple,"  his  love  of  God  is  so  intense,  his  admiration 
of  the  love  and  mercy  of  God  is  so  fresh,  and  ever 
present,  that  it  not  only  attracts  but  overpowers,  at 
least  for  a  moment,  every  reader  in  whose  soul  is  left 
the  slightest  idea  of  religion. 

Its  influence  was,  and  is,  in  making  a  revival  of 
religion  in  the  heart  of  the  reader ;  in  laying  the 
sound  foundation  of  every  real  reformation ;  in  inter- 
preting the  word  of  the  Lord :  "Come  unto  me  all  ye 
that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest"  (Matthew  XI:  28)  ;  in  bringing  back  the  rest- 
less human  soul  face  to  face  with  its  heavenly  Father, 
and  with  the  Christ  Consolator.  The  immense  con- 
sequences of  the  influence  of  the  Imitation  on  the  re- 
ligious movement  of  the  I5th  and  the  i6th  centuries 
can  hardly  be  overestimated.  Without  talking  about 
the  outward  form  and  government  of  the  Church,  it 
lays  full  stress  on  inner,  personal  piety  and  devotion. 
If  the  outward  form  of  Church  government  proves 


158  THOMAS  A    KEMPIS 

to  be  an  obstacle  to  that  inward  piety,  the  nations 
soon  will  change  that  outward  Church.  In  that  way 
Thomas  a  Kempis  became  one  of  the  great  precursors 
of  Luther,  Calvin  and  Knox. 

The  spiritual  and  literary  movement,  in  the  midst 
of  which  the  author  lived  from  his  twelfth  year  till 
his  death,  was  that  of  the  "brethren  of  common  life" 
in  the  Netherlands  during  the  I5th  century.  Gerard 
Groot  of  Deventer,  and  Florentius  Radewyn,  are  the 
founders  of  this  Brotherhood  of  Common  Life.  From 
the  Southern  Netherlands,  from  Johannes  Ruysbroek 
at  Groenendaal,  near  Brussels,  this  revival,  this  re- 
formation of  inner  Christian  life  came  to  the  northern 
Provinces.  Two  years  after  the  death  of  Gerard 
Groot,  in  the  year  1386,  the  monastery  of  Agneten- 
berg,  near  Windeshiem,  four  miles  to  the  southeast 
of  Zwolle,  was  founded  by  this  Brotherhood,  and  it 
was  in  this  monastery  that  Thomas  a  Kempis  spent 
the  greater  part  of  his  life  and  there  he  wrote  his 
Imitation  of  Christ.  The  Congregation  of  Common 
Life,  founded  by  Gerard  Groot  and  Florentius 
Radewyn,  became  a  famous  center  of  learning  and 
education  in  the  midst  of  the  corruption  of  the  late 
mediaeval  time.  "Strange  and  troubled  were  those 
times,  and  fraught  with  scandal  and  confusion.  Hu- 
man ambition  and  the  curses  of  wealth  and  worldli- 
ness  had  eaten  their  way,  so  far  as  God  permitted, 
in  the  very  fold  of  Christ.  Prosperity  had  done  its 
worst.  What  persecution  had  failed  to  do,  luxury 
bade  fair  to  accomplish.  To  a  considerable  extent 
the  morals  of  the  people  and  even  of  the  clergy,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest,  were  deeply  corrupted,  and 
the  church  appeared  in  urgent  danger."1  In  such  a 
time,  the  thoughts  that  filled  the  minds  of  Gerard 

1  F.  R.  Cruise,  Thomas  a  Kempis,  London,  1887,  p.  33. 


THOMAS  A    KEMPIS  159 

Groot  and  Florentius  Radewyn,  wh,en  they  inaugu- 
rated the  Congregation  of  Common  Life,  were  as  fol- 
lows: "In  the  first  place,  it  was  designed  that  its 
members  should  endeavor,  from  their  hearts,  to  return 
to  the  life  of  the  early  Christians;  to  such  a  life  as 
the  Apostles  led  when  following  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  on  earth,  and  which  they  and  their  companions 
carried  out  after  His  ascent  into  heaven.  All  were 
to  live  in  common,  to  work  for  the  general  good,  to 
hold  their  worldly  possessions  in  community,  and  to 
spend  their  leisure  hours  in  prayer  and  works  of 
charity."1 

In  this  community,  Thomas  a  Kempis  entered  as 
a  boy  of  twelve  years,  and  stayed  there  till  he  died  at 
the  age  of  ninety-one.  He  was  born  at  Kempen,  near 
Cologne  in  Germany,  not  far  from  the  borderline  be- 
tween the  Netherlands  and  Germany,  and  in  one  of 
those  provinces  where  was  spoken  the  same  low  Ger- 
man dialect  which  was  the  language  of  the  Dutch 
Provinces  along  the  border  of  Germany.  So  he  was 
by  his  birth  what  we  should  call  in  America  "Penn- 
sylvania Dutch."  But  in  his  twelfth  year,  he  left 
Germany,  and  stayed  the  remaining  seventy-eight 
years  in  the  Netherlands,  and  as  far  as  his  education, 
the  spirit  of  his  works,  and  of  his  life  is  concerned, 
he  was  a  son  of  the  Brethren  of  Common  Life  in  the 
Netherlands. 


1  Ibid,  p.  64. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
ELCKERLYC  AND  EVERYMAN 

In  the  numerous  morality-plays  of  the  I4th  and 
1 5th  centuries,  the  rising  democracy  celebrates  one  of 
its  great  triumphs.  Delivering  themselves  from  the 
bondage  of  the  feu'dal  system,  and  growing  more  civ- 
ilized and  better  educated  every  day,  notwithstanding 
the  hierarchic  system  of  the  church,  the  free  citizens 
of  the  powerful  cities,  especially  in  Flanders,  self- 
supporting,  self-reliant  and  self-directing  as  they 
were,  began  to  develop  their  own  literature  and  their 
own  art.  Producing  their  own  wealth,  proud  of  their 
own  privileges,  strengthening  their  own  power  in 
their  guilds,  and  in  their  cities,  these  children  of  the 
rising  democracy  poured  out  their  wonderfully  fresh, 
youthful  energy  in  every  department  o'f  human  life. 
Instead  of  the  mystery-plays  and  the  miracle-plays  of 
the  mediaeval  church,  the  free  citizens  asked  for  their 
morality-plays,  not  to  exclude  their  religious  life  but 
to  include  their  social  life  in  the  sphere  of  their  lit- 
erary education.  "From  a  performance  within  the 
church  building  it  went  on  into  the  church  yard  or 
the  adjoining  close  or  street,  and  so  into  the  town  at 
large.  The  clerics  still  kept  a  hand  in  its  purvey- 
ance; but  the  rise  of  the  town  guilds  gave  it  a  new 
character,  a  new  relation  to  the  current  life,  and  a 
larger  equipment.  The  friendly  rivalry  between  the 
guilds  and  the  craftsmen's  pride  in  not  being  outdone 
by  other  crafts,  helped  to  stimulate  the  town-play  till 

160 


"ELCKERLYC"  AND  "EVERYMAN'9  161 

at  length  the  elaborate  cycle  was  formed  that  began 
with  sunrise  on  a  June  morning  and  lasted  until  the 
torch-bearers  were  called  out  at  dark  to  stand  at  the 
foot  of  the  pageant."1 

Enormous  is  the  number  of  morality-plays  pro- 
duced during  those  first  centuries  of  the  rising  democ- 
racy, at  the  dawn  of  modern  history,  and  one  of  the 
most  famous  among  them  is  that  of  "Everyman,"  or, 
as  the  original  Dutch  play  is  called,  "Elckerlyc."  The 
full  title  is,  "Den  Spieghel  der  Salichhelt  van  Elck- 
erlyc"—  (The  mirror  of  salvation  for  every  man). 
This  great  and  simple  tragic  masterpiece  is  called 
"the  noblest  interlude  of  death,  the  religious  imagina- 
tion of  the  middle  ages  has  given  to  the  stage."2 
Maintaining  the  idea  that  moral  and  religious  life  are 
inseparably  connected,  this  play  shows  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end  its  grand  tendency  and  its  sub- 
lime character,  as  we  read  on  the  title  page  of  the 
English  translation,  "Here  beginneth  a  treatise  how 
the  High  Father  of  Heaven  sendeth  Death  to  sum- 
mon every  creature  to  come  and  give  account  of  their 
lives  in  this  world,  and  is  in  manner  of  a  moral  play." 

The  original  Dutch  play  was  probably  written  by 
a  monk,  Pieter  Dorland  (1454-1507)  at  Diest,  about 
the  year  1485,  and  for  the  first  time  printed  about 
the  year  1495.  In  a  competition  between  the  guilds 
of  rhetoric  at  Antwerp  in  the  year  1500,  Elckerlyc 
got  the  first  prize.  In  1536  it  was  translated  into 
Latin  as  "Homulus,"  and  soon  afterwards  a  German 
bookprinter  at  Cologne  published  a  German  version 
to  which  was  given  a  Lutheran  tendency.3  Within 
a  very  short  time  after  its  first  appearance  it  was 

1  Ernest   Rhys,  Poetry  and  the  Drama,   in   Everyman's  Library,  In- 
troduction, p.  XIV. 

2  Ibid,  XV. 

3  W.  de  Hoog,  Studien,  II,  22. 

11 


162  "ELCKERLYC"  AND  "EVERYMAN" 

translated  into  English,  and  this  became  the  reason 
why  among  the  philologists  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
who  studied  the  history  of  this  play,  the  question 
arose  whether  the  Dutch  or  the  English  version  was 
the  original.  For  several  years  it  was  a  very  spirited 
controversy  between  the  philologists  in  the  Nether- 
lands. Prof.  Moltzer  and  later  De  Raef,  Prof.  Loge- 
man,  Pollard  and  Kalfr",  maintained  from  the  begin- 
ning the  priority  of  the  Dutch  play.  But  other  men 
of  good  fame,  as  Prof.  Cozyn,  Van  Helten,  Te  Winkel 
and  De  Hoog  defended  the  priority  of  the  English 
version.  At  present  the  question  can  be  considered 
as  decided.  The  elaborate  researches  of  Prof.  Loge- 
man1  of  Ghent  and  the  last  studies  on  this  subject 
of  Prof.  J.  M.  Monly2  and  Prof.  Francis  A.  Wood,3 
at  the  University  of  Chicago,  have  left  no  room  for 
any  further  doubt  about  the  priority  of  the  Dutch 
play.  According  to  Prof.  Manly,  the  arguments  of 
Prof.  Logeman  in  1902  were  "enough,  indeed,  in  my 
opinion,  to  settle  the  question  of  priority  definitely 
and  finally,"  but  "unfortunately,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
Professor  Logeman,  in  his  attempt  at  an  entirely  ob- 
jective treatment,  has  buried  his  decisive  arguments 
under  a  mass  of  interesting,  but  indecisive  and  some- 
times erroneous  discussions ;  and  this  is  the  reason 
why  his  pamphlet  was  not  recognized  as  containing 
the  final  words  on  the  subject."  Although  decided 
by  Prof.  Logeman  in  1902,  the  researches  of  Prof. 
Wood  on  this  question  are  entirely  independent  of 
those  of  Logeman,  for  "the  main  evidence  here  pre- 
sented is  of  a  different  character"  from  that  of  Prof. 
Logeman,  and  the  conclusion  of  Prof.  Wood  is  as 

1  H.    Logeman,   Elckerlyc,   Everyman,   De   vraag   naar   de  Prioriteit, 
opnieuw  onderzocht.    Gand.,   1902. 

2  In  Modern  Philology,  October,   1910. 

3  In  Modern  Philology,   October,    1910. 


"ELGKERLYC"  AND  "EVERYMAN"  163 

follows:  "In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that,  though 
Everyman  in  one  or  two  instances  may  have  improved 
on  the  original,  Elckerlyc,  as  a  whole,  is  artistically 
superior.  With  the  exception  of  a  very  few  passages 
where  the  text  is  evidently  corrupt,  Elckerlyc  is  writ- 
ten in  fairly  good  language  and  meter.  It  is  theolog- 
ically correct  and  remarkably  consistent  and  logical. 
It  must  have  been  the  product  of  a  trained  mind.  On 
the  other  hand,  Everyman  is  faulty  in  language  and 
meter,  wrong  in  theology,  inapt  in  its  biblical  allu- 
sions, full  of  inconsistencies,  and  betrays  on  every 
page  the  hand  of  an  unskilled  workman  who  was  not 
even  capable  of  making  a  good  translation." 

At  this  conclusion  we  are  not  surprised.  If  two 
plays  so  much  alike  in  subject  and  contents,  in  Eng- 
lish and  in  Dutch,  were  written  during  the  rQth  cen- 
tury, we  should  presume  the  Dutch  to  be  probably 
a  translation  from  the  English,  or  at  least  we  should 
not  be  surprised  if  this  was  proved  to  be  the  fact. 
But  at  the  end  of  the  I5th  century  we  feel  inclined 
in  such  cases  to  presume  the  priority  of  the  Dutch, 
in  accordance  with  the  general  conditions  of  those 
countries  during  that  period  of  the  world's  history. 
Exceptions  to  this  general  rule,  of  course,  are  pos- 
sible, and  do  exist;  but  in  this  case  we  have  only  an- 
other example  of  Holland's  influence  on  English  lit- 
erature at  the  end  of  the  I5th  century,  just  the  same 
as  in  the  case  of  Caxton.  Not  a  Dutch  Caxton 
learned  book  printing  in  England,  but  an  English- 
man Caxton  learned  book  printing  in  the  Netherlands 
to  introduce  it  into  England.  In  the  same  way,  an 
Englishman,  although  hardly  able  to  do  this  work, 
translated  the  famous  masterpiece  of  Pieter  Dorland 
to  introduce  it  into  England. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
ON  DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS,  1467-1536 

If  there  is  any  son  of  the  Dutch  nation  whose 
name  is  familiar  to  the  English  people,  and  whose 
works  have  been  read  during  four  centuries  by  every- 
body in  the  highest  circles  of  English  society,  it  is 
Desiderius  Erasmus.  Not  only  because  he  had  his 
pupils  among  the  sons  of  the  English  aristocracy,  not 
only  because  he  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Thomas 
Moore,  but  because  of  his  Christian  humanism,  his 
high  erudition  and  marvelous  learning,  his  fine  humor 
and  criticism,  attacking  every  kind  of  corruption  and 
yet  avoiding  martyrdom,  the  entertaining  style  of  his 
letters  and  books — this  altogether  has  given  to  Eras- 
mus that  popularity  among  the  higher  classes  of  Eng- 
lish society,  which  even  after  four  hundred  years  has 
never  ceased  to  accompany  his  familiar  name.  The 
young  English  nobleman,  Lord  Mount  joy,  knew  what 
he  did,  when,  in  the  year  1497,  he  invited  Erasmus, 
his  tutor  in  Paris,  to  England,  in  order  to  bless  his 
friends  and  his  country  with  the  wonderful  learning 
and  with  the  entertaining  conversation  of  this  broad- 
minded  scholar,  whose  amiable  humor  and  universal 
criticism,  perhaps  in  no  country  was  needed  and  ap- 
preciated as  much  as  in  England  at  the  end  of  the 
1 5th  century. 

The  influence  of  Erasmus  was  a  European  one. 
His  life  was  an  international  life :  his  works  were 
printed  and  read  in  nearly  every  country,  and  his 

164 


DESIDERWS   ERASMUS  165 

name  was  known  even  in  the  remotest  corners  of 
Christianity.  And  yet,  his  relation  to  England  is  a 
peculiar  one,  neither  to  be  exaggerated  nor  to  be  un- 
derestimated. 

Born  at  Rotterdam  in  the  year  1467,  he  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Northern  Provinces  of  the  Netherlands 
till  the  twenty-seventh  year  of  his  life.  Then  there 
follow  twenty  years  (1494-1519)  in  which  we  find 
him  in  France,  in  the  Southern  Netherlands  (the  only 
country  where  he  had  for  years  his  own  house — at 
Louvain),  in  England,  and  in  Italy.  And  finally  the 
third  period  of  his  life  (1519-1536)  in  which  he  set- 
tled at  Basel  as  editor  in  connection  with  the  Froben- 
press  till  the  death  of  his  friend  Froben,  after  which 
he  retired  to  Freiburg  in  Breisgau,  to  stay  there  for 
seven  years.  In  1535  he  returned  to  Basel,  where  he 
died  the  next  year. 

It  was  during  the  second  period  of  his  life  (1497- 
1519)  that  he  visited  England,  according  to  one  of 
his  biographers,  Drummond,1  four  times ;  according 
to  Nichols,2  the  editor  of  a  part  of  his  letters,  six 
times.  According  to  his  correspondence,  as  published 
by  Nichols,  Erasmus  was  in  England,  first,  from  May, 
1499,  to  January,  1500  (six  months)  ;  second,  from 
April,  1505,  to  June,  1506  (fourteen  months)  ;  third, 
from  July,  1509,  to  July,  1514  (five  years)  ;  fourth, 
from  March,  1515,  to  June,  1515  (three  months)  ; 
fifth,  in  August,  1516;  sixth,  in  April,  1517;  alto- 
gether nearly  seven  years,  which  was  a  tenth  part  of 
his  whole  life. 

His  personal  influence  with  the  most  learned  men 
of  all  Europe  is  evident  from  his  letters  published  as 

1  R.    B.    Drummond,    Erasmus.      His   Life   and    Character.      2   vols. 
London,   1873. 

2  Francis  Morgan  Nichols,  The  Epistles  of  Erasmus,  from  his  earliest 
letters  to  his  fifty-first  year.     English  translations,  2  vols.     London,  1904. 


1G6  DESIDERIVS  ERASMUS 

Vols.  IV  and  V  of  the  edition  of  Erasmus'  works  in 
ten  volumes  in  1703  at  Ley  den,  a  part  of  which  now 
have  been  translated  and  published  by  Nichols  in  two 
volumes.  In  the  personal  influence  of  Erasmus,  Eng- 
land had  a  good  share,  since  his  most  intimate  friend 
was  Thomas  More  (1478-1535)  whom  he  himself 
called  "a  friend  dearer  to  me  than  all  besides."  It 
was  Thomas  More  who  advised  Erasmus  to  write  his 
"Praise  of  Folly,"  and  it  is  said  that  Erasmus  wrote 
this  famous  book  from  his  note-book  in  one  week 
at  the  house  of  More.  To  stay  in  the  home  of  More, 
in  the  midst  of  this  delightful  family,  where  the  old- 
est daughter,  Margaret — they  called  her  "Mek" — 
was,  for  instance,  so  well  educated  that  she  knew  the 
Greek  and  the  Latin  languages  very  well,  must  have 
been  for  Erasmus  very  pleasant  and  interesting.  Some 
of  the  best  information  about  Thomas  More  we  have 
from  Erasmus.  He  tells  us  that  More  published  his 
"Utopia"  to  point  out  the  circumstances  which  dimin- 
ish the  happiness  of  states  in  general,  but  the  British 
he  chiefly  had  in  view,  the  constitution  of  which  he 
knows  and  understands  thoroughly.  The  second  book 
had  been  written  some  time  during  his  leisure — he 
afterwards,  as  occasion  served,  wrote  the  first  off- 
hand. Hence  there  is  some  inequality  of  style."1 
Erasmus  himself  took 'care  of  the  printing  of  More's 
Utopia.  The  close  connection  of  Erasmus  with  More, 
with  Colet,  with  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge, and  with  many  other  prominent  men  in  Eng- 
land, have  made  his  life  most  interesting  for  the 
study  of  English  history.  His  longest  abode  in  Eng- 
land, 1509-1514,  was  at  the  time  when  Henry  VIII 


1  See  Retrospective  Review,  Vol.  V,  1822,  p.  257,  article  on  the 
Letters  of  Erasmus.  In  the  edition  of  1703  this  quotation  is  to  be  found 
in  an  elaborate  letter  of  Erasmus  to  Ulrich  von  Hutten  on  Thomas 
More,  dated,  Antwerp,  July  23,  1519.  Vol.  Ill,  p.  472-477. 


DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS  167 

came  to  the  throne,  and  began  to  act  as  a  pro- 
tector of  sciences  and  arts.  How  little  could  Erasmus 
imagine  at  that  time  that  twenty-five  years  later,  in 
1535,  the  message  would  reach  him  that  his  dearest 
friend,  More,  was  put  to  death  by  the  same  monarch, 
and  his  head  exposed  on  London  bridge.  Erasmus' 
personal  influence  on  More,  who  was  eleven  years  his 
junior,  and  on  all  the  learned  men  in  England  with 
whom  he  came  in  contact,  can  hardly  be  overesti- 
mated. He  was  to  them  a  living  dictionary  for  all 
kinds  of  civilization  and  learning  which  existed  in 
the 'great  centers  of  the  European  continent,  a  civili- 
zation which  at  that  time  was  in  many  respects  ahead 
of  that  in  England.  From  his  letters  we  know  how 
he  gave  advice  about  nearly  everything.  He  even 
gave  them  advice  how  to  get  rid  of  their  manifold 
diseases,  such  as  the  plague,  by  cleaning  their  houses 
and  building  them  in  a  more  sanitary  way.  This  ad- 
vice, given  to  the  physician  of  Cardinal  Wolsey,  is 
for  us  the  more  remarkable  because  he  describes  in  it 
the  condition  of  the  houses  in  which  the  upper  classes 
in  England  lived  at  that  time,  and  the  more  trust- 
worthy because  he  wrote  this  to  a  man  who  knew 
all  about  it.1  The  editor  of  the  Retrospective  Review, 
in  Vol.  V,  1822,  p.  250,  gives  a  translation  of  this 
letter,  and  probably  because  he  did  not  like  this  de- 
scription of  the  English  houses  translated  it  incor- 
rectly. Erasmus  tells  among  other  things  that  the 
floors  of  the  houses  generally  were  of  clay  and  covered 
with  rushes,  which  were  so  seldom  renewed  that  the 
covering  sometimes  remained  twenty  years,  conceal- 


1  This  letter  is  to  be  found  in  Tom.,  Ill,  p.  1815,  as  Epistola  432  of 
the  Appendix,  Ed.,  Leyden,  1703.  This  edition  of  Erasmus'  works  is  in 
ip  volumes,  of  which  vols.  Ill  and  IV  contain  the  correspondence 
giving  at  first  1298  letters  from  and  to  Erasmus,  and  furthermore  an 
Appendix  containing  517  letters.  At  the  end  we  find  a  careful  index  of 
names  and  one  of  subjects. 


168  DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS 

ing  beneath  a  mass  of  all  descriptions  of  filth  and 
other  abominations  not  fit  to  mention.  In  translating 
this  part,  the  poor  zealot  of  English  patriotism  ren- 
ders in  this  way:  "The  streets  are  generally  cov- 
ered," etc.,  which,  of  course,  gives  no  sense  at  all  in 
this  connection.1  If  used  in  such  a  way,  even  the  best 
sources  for  the  truth  of  history  lose  their  value.  In 
connection  with  this  description,  and  advice  of  Eras- 
mus, F.  M.  Nichols,  in  his  translation  of  a  part  of 
Erasmus'  letters  says:  "And  the  accounts  published 
in  the  abstracts  of  state  papers  show  with  how  little 
comfort  the  highest  personages  were  compelled  to  be 
content  within  royal  palaces.  A  pallet  for  my  lord 
marquis'  bed  and  rushes  for  my  lord's  chamber  are 
supplemented  with  an  ounce  of  clover  to  make  per- 
fume to  overcome  the  evil  odors.  We  may  imagine 
how  my  lord's  numerous  gentlemen  and  servants  were 
lodged."2 

Quite  another  advice  than  that  to  clean  the  houses, 
and  to  build  them  in  a  more  sanitary  way,  was  that 
which  Erasmus  gave  to  his  friend,  Faustus  Andreli- 
nus,  poet  laureate,  who  lived  in  France  for  his  health, 
and  whom  Erasmus  advised  to  come  to  England  for 
a  reason  which  we  hardly  should  expect  from  a  man 
who  remained  a  bachelor  for  all  his  life.  At  that 
time  Erasmus  himself  was  only  thirty-two  years  of 
age,  and  he  himself  was  for  the  first  time  in  England. 
Invited  by  his  pupil,  Lord  Mount  joy,  it  seems  that  he 
had  a  very  good  time,  and  so  he  wrote  to  his  friend : 
"If  you  knew  well  the  advantages  of  Britain,  truly 
you  would  hasten  hither  with  wings  to  your  feet,  and 

1  Erasmus  wrote  literally  this:     "Turn  sola  fere  strata  sunt  argilla, 
turn    scirpis    palustribus,    qui    subinde    sic    renovantur,    ut    fundamentum 
maneat   aliquoties   annos   viginti,    sub    se    fovens    sputa,   vomitus,   mictum 
canum   et   huminum,   projectam   cervisiam,   et   piscium   reliquias,   aliasque 
sordes  non  nominanda."    Appendix  Epistola,  432,  p.  1815.     Opera,  Tomus, 
III,  ed.   1703.     Leyden. 

2  F.   M.   Nichols,  Epistles  of  Erasmus,  II,  p.  44. 


AVAGO-  ERASMJ-ROTERODA     • 

AM  •  AR  •  ALBERTO  •  DVREROAD  j 
VIVA  AY-  EFFiGiEAVDELINlATA-1 


DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS. 
Kopergravure  naar  en  dooi   Albert  Diirer 


DESIDERWS  ERASMUS  169 

if  your  gout  would  not  permit,  you  would  wish  you 
possessed  the  art  of  Daedalus.  For  just  to  touch  on 
one  thing  out  of  many,  here  there  are  lasses  with 
heavenly  faces,  kind,  obliging;  and  you  would  far 
prefer  them  to  all  your  muses.  There  is,  besides,  a 
practice  never  to  be  sufficiently  commended.  If  you 
go  to  any  place,  you  are  received  with  a  kiss  by  all; 
if  you  depart  on  a  journey  you  are  dismissed  with  a 
kiss;  you  return,  kisses  are  exchanged;  they  come  to 
visit  you,  a  kiss  the  first  thing;  they  leave  you,  you 
kiss  them  all  round ;  do  they  meet  you  anywhere  ? 
kisses  in  abundance — lastly,  wherever  you  move, 
there  is  nothing  but  kisses.  And  if  you,  Faustus,  had 
but  once  tasted  them,  how  soft  they  are,  how  fra- 
grant, on  my  honour  you  would  wish  not  to  reside 
here  for  ten  years  only,  but  to  take  up  your  abode  in 
England  for  life."1  Hundreds  are  the  subjects  treated 
in  the  letters  of  Erasmus  showing  the  abundance  of 
his  knowledge,  and  the  most  interesting  way  he  uses 
it.  It  is  a  delight  just  to  look  through  the  beautiful 
index  of  subjects  in  the  edition  of  1703  of  Erasmus' 
works  and  the  man  who  made  that  index  must  have 
known  more  about  Erasmus  than  most  of  his  biogra- 
phers. From  his  correspondence  we  may  deduce  the 
character  of  his  conversation,  and  it  is  clear  that  his 
personal  influence,  by  his  letters  as  well  as  by  his 
conversation,  must  have  been  remarkable. 

Not  less  than  his  personal  influence  was  that  of 
his  writings.  This  is  evident  to  everybody  who  looks 
at  the  many  editions  of  his  most  famous  books,  as  the 
Adages,  the  Praise  of  Folly  and  the  Colloquies.  In 
the  bibliography  of  Erasmus,  called  Bibliotheca  Eras- 
miana,  published  in  seven  volumes  by  the  University 
of  Ghent,  there  are  mentioned  258  editions  of  the 

1  Epistola,  65.  p.  55.  Opera  Tom.,  Ill,  Ed.  1703.  The  translation  of 
this  letter  is  in  Retrospective  Revieiv,  vol.  V,  p.  251. 


170  DESIDERIUS   ERASMUS 

Adages  and  of  parts  of  it,  247  editions  of  the  Praise 
of  Folly  and  483  editions  of  the  Colloquies  and  of 
parts  of  it.  Many  of  these  editions  are,  of  course,  in 
the  original  Latin,  in  which  Erasmus  wrote  them, 
and  in  which  they  were  spread  all  over  Europe.  But 
translations  soon  followed,  and  the  247  editions  of 
the  Praise  of  Folly  are  divided  as  follows :  Latin  99, 
French  55,  Dutch  32,  English  22,  German  21,  Italian 
14,  Spanish  i,  Swedish  I,  Danish  i,  Hungarian  i. 
The  first  Latin  edition  is  of  the  year  1511  at  Paris; 
the  first  English  of  1549;  the  first  Dutch  of  1560;  the 
first  German  of  1520,  and  the  first  French  of  1520. 

The  first  edition  of  the  Adages  is  of  the  year 
1500  at  Paris;  the  first  English  translation  of  1539 
at  London;  the  first  German  of  1539;  the  first  Dutch 
of  1556.  The  first  edition  contained  only  400 
proverbs,  some  of  the  later  editions  more  than  4,000. 

The  first  edition  of  the  Colloquies  is  of  the  year 
1518  at  Basel,  but  the  translations  of  this  work  fol- 
lowed much  later;  the  first  of  the  61  French  editions 
is  of  the  year  1720;  the  first  of  the  16  Dutch  ones  of 
1610;  the  first  of  the  38  German  ones  of  1683;  the 
first  of  the  48  English  ones  of  1671 ;  two  Greek 
editions  were  of  the  years  1566  and  1567  at  Ant- 
werp; one  in  Russian  and  Dutch  of  the  year  1716; 
the  first  of  the  seven  Italian  editions  is  of  1545;  the 
first  of  the  seven  Spanish  ones  of  1529  at  Sevilla. 

These  lists  of  editions  tell  more  than  volumes 
about  Erasmus'  influence. 

And  even  some  of  the  much  less  known  works  of 
Erasmus,  as  for  instance  his  Apophthegmata,  or  as 
they  are  called  in  English  the  "Apophtegmes,  that 
is  to  saie  prompte,  quicke,  wittie  and  sentencious 
saiynges  of  certain  emperours,  kynges,  capitaines,  phi- 
losophers" have  been  published  in  a  great  number  of 


DESIDERWS   ERASMUS  171 

editions.  The  bibliography  of  Erasmus,  referred  to 
above,  mentions  98  editions  of  the  Apophtegmes;  68 
in  Latin,  of  which  the  first  is  in  the  year  1531 ;  4  in 
English,  of  which  the  first  is  in  1542;  22  in  French, 
of  which  the  first  is  in  1539;  one  in  Italian,  in  1546; 
two  in  Spanish,  both  in  1549;  and  one  in  Dutch  in  the 
year  1672. 

To  investigate  the  reasons  why  these  works  were 
translated  so  many  years  earlier  in  one  country  than 
in  another  would  take  too  long  a  time  for  the  present 
purpose.  It  is  also  a  difficult  question  why  so  many 
more  editions  appeared  in  one  country  than  in  an- 
other. In  the  investigation  of  these  questions  there 
is  still  room,  for  some  doctoral  theses.  In  Holland, 
for  instance,  they  did  not  need  translations  because 
the  majority  of  the  readers  of  Erasmus'  works  pre- 
ferred the  Latin  original. 

His  influence  on  England,  and  consequently  on  the 
English  literature  by  his  conversation  and  his  corre- 
spondence, as  well  as  by  his  works,  has  been  a  three- 
fold one :  First,  in  bringing  the  best  educated  circles 
in  England  more  closely  into  contact  with  the  civili- 
zation of  the  continent;  secondly,  by  fostering  the 
study  of  the  Roman  and  Greek  literature  with  all  its 
treasures  of  human  knowledge  and  wisdom  of  life ; 
and  in  the  third  place,  by  his  criticism,  in  humor  and 
in  satire,  of  the  corruption,  the  ignorance  and  the 
stupidity  of  the  kings  and  nobles,  clergymen  and 
monks  of  his  time. 

This  influence  forms  an  antithesis  to  that  of 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  and  the  mystic  movement  of  which 
he  was  the  representative,  because  Erasmus,  although 
a  pious  and  true  Christian,  laid  more  stress  on  higher 
intellectual  education  than  on  quiet  devotion. 

And,  finally,  his  influence  was  quite  another  than 


172  DESIDERWS   ERASMUS 

that  of  Luther,  Calvin  and  Knox,  because  he  looked 
at  the  corruption  and  the  depravity  of  his  time  with 
another  eye  than  the  great  Reformers.  The  Reform- 
ers looked  at  corruption  as  did  the  prophets  and 
Apostles — from  the  guilty  side  of  sin  and  depravity; 
it  aroused  their  indignation ;  they  preached  conver- 
sion, and  humiliation  before  God ;  and  their  theme 
was  the  duty  of  all  creatures  to  glorify  God.  Erasmus 
looked  at  corruption  and  depravity  from  the  side 
of  its  stupidity,  its  helplessness,  its  natural  conse- 
quences, and  it  aroused  his  humor  and  his  satire ;  his 
preaching  was  against  the  foolishness  of  sin ;  and  his 
aim  was  more  at  morality  than  at  religion ;  more  at 
a  humanistic  reform  than  at  a  religious  reformation. 
His  eye  was  more  on  the  innumerable  relations  be- 
tween man  and  man  in  human  society,  than  on  the 
depths  of  the  human  heart,  facing  his  relation  to 
Almighty  God. 

How  far  he  introduced  his  manifold  knowledge  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  his  humor  and  his  satire  into  Eng- 
lish literature,  we  can  only  presume  or  conjecture  in 
a  general  way,  and  the  investigation  of  this  question 
we  must  leave  to  monographs  on  the  subject,  for 
which  there  is  abundant  room. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  FIRST  ENGLISH  BOOK  ON  AMERICA  A  TRANSLA- 
TION FROM  THE  DUTCH 

More  than  one  printer  at  Antwerp  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  i6th  century  published  English  books, 
and  found  a  market  in  England,  where  book  printing 
still  was  in  the  period  of  its  first  beginning.  We 
know,  for  instance,  that  Gerard  Leeu,  who  first  had  a 
printing  office  at  Gonda,  later  came  to  Antwerp  and 
printed  some  English  books,  and  that  the  well-known 
printer,  Jan  van  Doesburgh,  at  Antwerp,  printed 
"The  fifteen  Tokens"  in  1505;  "A  Gest  of  Robin 
Hode"  in  1515;  "The  life  of  Virgilius"  in  1520,  and 
"The  Story  of  Mary  van  Nymwegen"  in  1520. 

One  of  the  pupils  of  this  Jan  van  Doesburgh  was 
Laurent  Andrewe,  who,  after  having',  like  Caxton, 
learned  book  printing  in  the  Netherlands,  settled  in 
the  year  1527  at  London.  During  his  abode  in  the 
Netherlands  he  had  learned  the  Dutch  language,  and 
so  he  was  able  to  translate  some  books  from  the 
Dutch  into  the  English,  translations  which  he  then 
printed  and  published.  So  he  published,  as  a  transla- 
tion from  the  Dutch,  a  little  book  entitled :  "The  Val- 
uation of  Gold  and  Silver,"  and  another  entitled: 
"The  Art  and  Craft  to  know  well  to  die."  But  the 
best  known  of  all  these  translations  is  that  of  the 
Dutch  book:  "Die  Reise  van  Lissabone,"  published  in 
1508,  which  he  translated  in  1520  and  published  with 

173 


174         FIRST   ENGLISH   BOOK   ON   AMERICA 

the  title :    "Of  the  New  Landes."     This  was  the  first 
English  book  on  America.1 

This  simple  fact  would  be,  of  course,  more  curi- 
ous than  important,  if  it  stood  alone.  But  it  does  not 
stand  alone.  It  is  just  one  of  the  single  stones  which 
together  form  a  building.  A  good  architect  does  not 
fix  his  eyes  on  only  one  stone  at  a  time,  afterwards 
on  another,  and  then  on  a  third  and  a  fourth,  but  his 
mind  takes  them  all  together,  connected  and  well- 
placed,  so  as  to  form  a  building  in  which  every  one 
of  them  has  its  proper  place.  So  everybody  who  is 
not  blinded  by  ignorance  and  prejudice  against  the 
Netherlands,  and  who  honestly  seeks  the  truth  of  his- 
tory in  order  to  have,  in  this  case,  the  right  idea  of 
Holland's  influence  on  English  language  and  Litera- 
ture, will  do  as  the  good  architect  does.  He  takes 
all  the  facts  together  and  in  connection  with  each 
other,  and  then  he  is  able  to  see  what  he  was  looking 
for.  He  sees  something  which  touches  the  world's 
history,  taking,  as  a  rule,  its  course  from  East  to 
West,  and  so  from  the  Netherlands  to  England, 
especially  in  those  centuries,  in  which  from  1400  till 
1700,  we  can  say  that  the  headquarters  of  the  World's 
History  are  in  the  Low  Countries.  And  once  arrived 
at  that  point  of  view,  he  understands  the  story  of  the 
traveller  who  took  with  him  from  a  foreign  country 
one  single  stone  of  an  old  building,  famous  in  history. 
To  him  that  one  stone  spoke  more  than  volumes.  The 
case  is  same  with  the  one  single  fact  that  the  first  Eng- 
lish book  on  America  was  a  translation  from  the  Dutch. 
How  was  that  possible?  There  must  be  something 
behind  that  isolated  fact.  Yes,  there  is  behind  that 
fact  the  earlier  development,  and  the  superior  civili- 


De  Hoog,  Studien,  II,  34. 


FIRST   ENGLISH   BOOK   ON   AMERICA         175 

zation  in  the  Netherlands  during  the  I5th  and  i6th 
centuries.  A  part  of  the  world's  history,  and  a  very 
interesting  part,  the  beginning  of  modern  history  and 
of  nearly  all  the  good  ideas  of  our  modern  times,  is 
behind  this  simple  fact. 


CHAPTER  XX 

DUTCH  LEGENDS  IN  ENGLAND 

Although  in  the  middle  ages  legends  were  very 
numerous  in  the  Netherlands,  yet  in  the  last  part  of 
the  middle  ages  and  in  the  beginning  of  modern  his- 
tory, the  time  in  which  Holland  played  its  great  part 
in  the  world's  history,  legends  lost  their  general  in- 
terest. The  mass  of  the  people  did  not  look  at 
legends  from  their  literary  side,  but  turned  away  from 
them  as  from  popish  superstitions.  The  great  prob- 
lems of  reform  in  church,  in  state  and  in  society  got 
hold  of  the  heart  and  of  the  intellect.  The  struggle 
for  liberty  from  feudal  oppression  and  from  ecclesias- 
tical persecution,  in  which  so  many  thousands  sac- 
rificed their  lives,  made  them  lose  sympathy  for  the 
legendary  stories  of  the  mediaeval  church  and  only 
in  those  parts  of  the  country  where  Catholicism  re- 
mained intact  and  undisputed  did  legends  retain  their 
popularity. 

Yet,  with  the  "popish  superstitions"  the  funda- 
mental dogmas  of  Christianity  were  not  abandoned, 
but  rather  restored  to  their  full  power.  The  sturdy 
men  and  women  of  the  sixteenth  century  believed  in 
the  fall  of  man,  in  the  perverseness  of  human  nature, 
in  the  reality  of  the  devil,  and  in  a  world  of  evil  spir- 
its who  influenced  human  affairs,  in  regeneration  and 
conversion  by  confession  of  sin,  and  in  reconciliation 
with  their  heavenly  Father  by  the  sufferings  and 
death  of  Christ.  Yet  the  imagination  of  the  people 

176 


DUTCH   LEGENDS  IN   ENGLAND  177 

produced  some  new  legends  of  a  peculiar  character, 
although  these  few  legends  originated  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  parts  of  the  country,  and  showed  some 
Catholic  ideas.  We  have  at  least  one,  which  was 
printed  in  several  editions,  of  which  that  of  1608  was 
entitled:  "Een  schoone  Historic  ende  een  zeer  won- 
derlyke  ende  waerachtige  geschiedenis  van  Marike 
van  Nimwegen,  hoe  zy  meer  dan  seven  jaren  met  den 
Duyvel  woonde  en  leefde" — (A  beautiful  story  and 
very  miraculous  and  true  narrative  of  Mary  of  Nim- 
wegen; how  she  lived  with  the  Devil  for  more  than 
seven  years). 

As  early  as  the  year  1520,  after  one  of  the  first 
Dutch  editions,  an  English  translation  of  this  legend 
was  printed  by  Jan  van  Doesburgh  at  Antwerp. 

The  heroine  of  this  story  is  Mary,  the  niece  of  a 
priest,  who  once  sent  her  to  Nimwegen  to  shop.  Sur- 
prised by  the  approach  of  evening,  she  tried  to  stay 
over  night  with  her  aunt.  But  this  termagant  woman 
refused  to  let  her  stay,  and  chased  her  out  of  her 
house.  In  the  middle  of  the  night  Mary  was  seduced 
by  the  Devil  Moenen  (Daemon),  who  promised  to 
teach  her  the  seven  arts.  With  him  she  travelled  to 
Bois  la  Due  and  Antwerp  and  lived  for  seven  years 
a  life  of  vice.  Finally  she  repented,  and  tried  to  flee 
from  the  Devil,  but  he  grasped  her,  took  her  with 
him  high  in  the  air,  and  threw  her  down  on  the  earth, 
but  the  holy  Virgin  saved  her  life.  She  was  received 
by  her  uncle,  the  priest,  and  died  after  many  deeds 
of  repentance  in  a  monastery  at  Mastricht.1 

It  is  quite  possible  that  more  such  stories  writ- 
ten in  the  Netherlands,  might  have  been  translated 
into  English,  and  so  have  become  part  of  English  lit- 
erature. Further  investigation  might  reve'al  new  re- 
lationships. 

i  W.   de  Hoog,  Studien,   II,  34. 
12 


CHAPTER  XXI 

JEST   BOOKS   AND   ANECDOTES    (FOOL-LITERATURE)  — 
HOWLEGLASS  (ULENSPIEGEL) 

Jest  books  and  anecdotes  have  played  a  remark- 
able part  in  the  literature  of  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries.  In  his  "Studies  on  the  literary  rela- 
tions between  England  and  Germany,"  Charles  H. 
Herford  has  a  very  interesting  chapter  on  the  sub- 
ject. In  this  chapter  he  shows  how  the  stimulus  for 
this  "fool-literature"  of  jests  and  anecdotes  came  from 
the  Italian  Renaissance;  how  from  Italy  this  move- 
ment went  to  Germany,  from  Germany  to  the  Nether- 
lands, and  how  the  most  famous  jest  books  were 
translated  from  the  Dutch  into  French  as  well  as 
into  English,  and  finally  how  in  England  and  Scot- 
land this  kind  of  book  was  looked  at. 

The  humanistic  movement  of  the  Renaissance 
opened  not  only  the  stores  of  all  the  wit  and  humor, 
the  satires,  the  jests  and  the  anecdotes  of  the  Greek 
and  Roman  literature,  but  was  as  well  the  stimulus 
for  literary  men  in  western  Europe  to  enrich  their 
literature  with  the  stories  that  lived  among  the  peo- 
ple and  with  the  jokes  and  anecdotes  that  were  retold 
from  generation  to  generation. 

During  the  late  mediaeval  time  certain  typical  fig- 
ures, often  a  priest  or  a  monk,  became  the  protagonists 
of  these  anecdotes.  In  the  fifteenth  and  six- 
teenth centuries,  when  democracy  arose,  when  free 
cities  grew  rapidly  in  population  and  in  wealth,  and 

178 


JEST  BOOKS  AND  ANECDOTES  179 

when  all  kind's  of  industry  were  rising,  it  was  espe- 
cially the  class  distinction  which  became  the  inex- 
haustible source  of  jests  and  anecdotes.  A  school 
teacher,  a  village  preacher,  a  tailor,  an  innkeeper,  a 
shoemaker  or  a  blacksmith,  a  peasant,  a  miller  or  a 
barber,  were  alternately  made  the  butts  of  popular 
wit,  while  the  hero  of  many  stories  of  that  kind  was 
often  one  or  the  other  popular  citizen  who  had  got 
some  reputation  for  wit  amongst  his  fellow  citizens. 
Among  those  personalities,  around  whose  names  have 
been  collected  a  large  number  of  jokes  and  anecdotes, 
written  down  in  special  books  by  which  they  got  an 
immortality  of  their  own,  there  are  in  Germany,  for 
instance,  Amis,  the  Kalemberger,  Rausch,  Markoff 
and  Ulenspiegel,  especially  the  last. 

"Amis  is  the  German  counterpart  of  the  Abbot 
of  Canterbury  ;  the  Kalemberger  is  the  facetious  parish 
priest,  who  outwits  his  parishioners,  makes  game  of 
his  bishop,  and  extracts  unintended  bounties  from  his 
patron ;  Rausch,  the  young  novice  in  the  convent,  who 
lays  traps  for  the  friar  and  the  cook;  Markhoff,  the 
foul  but  witty  boor,  who  paralyzes  the  wisdom  of 
Solomon  with  keen  rejoinders,  and  his  modesty  with 
the  tricks  of  an  unclean  animal ;  Ulenspiegcl,  the 
knavish  peasant  who  retaliates  on  the  haughty  citi- 
zens with  strokes  in  which  the  literature  of  the 
"Swank"  probably  reaches  its  acme  of  fatuous  inso- 
lence. In  these  homely,  yet  vivid  figures,  and  par- 
ticularly in  Ulenspiegel,  the  best  known  and  the  most 
purely  national  of  all,  the  low  life  of  the  later  Middle 
Ages  in  Germany  lives  before  us;  we  hurry  to  and 
fro  between  tavern  and  workshop,  highway  and  mar- 
ket-place, stable  and  scullery.  Every  line  of  Ulen- 
spiegel vividly  records  the  essential  qualities  of  the 
society  which  made  a  hero  of  him ;  its  gross  appe- 


180  JEST  BOOKS  AND   ANECDOTES 

tites,  its  intellectual  insensibility,  its  phlegmatic  good 
humour,  its  boisterous  delight  in  all  forms  of  physical 
energy  and  physical  prowess,  its  inexhaustible  inter- 
est in  the  daily  events  of  the  bodily  life,  and  the 
stoutness  of  nerve  which  permitted  it  to  find  up- 
roarous  enjoyment  in  mere  foulness  of  stench.  The 
whole  interest  of  Ulenspiegel  for  us  is  social,  not  lit- 
erary;  all  his  jests  together  would  scarcely  yield  a 
grain  of  Attic  salt;  we  could  not  read  the  book  but 
for  the  light  which  it  throws  upon  a  society  which 
could  and  did."1 

"The  first  extant  versions  of  Ulenspiegel,  says 
Herford,  take  us  to  Strassburg,  where  in  1515  the 
earliest  known  editions,  and  in  1519  that  till  recently 
regarded  as  such  and  attributed  to  Murner,  were  pub- 
lished. From  Strassburg  it  passed  to  Angsburg 
(ed.  1540)  and  Erfurt  (ed.  1532-38)  and  Northwards 
to  Cologne  (Servais  Kruffter's  undated  edition), 
thence  to  Antwerp  (undated  ed.  1520-30)  and  from 
Antwerp  to  Paris  and  London."2 

"The  Antwerp  edition — a  canto  containing  about 
one-half  the  stories  of  the  original — was  the  basis  of 
the  French  version  of  1532  and  its  successors,  and  of 
the  English  version,  printed  probably  between  1548 
and  1560  by  William  Copland."3  This  English  ver- 
sion, translated  from  the  Dutch,  was  entitled  ''Howie- 
glass — Here  beginneth  a  merye  jest  of  a  man  called 
Howleglass,  and  of  many  marvelous  thinges  and  jestes 
that  he  did  in  his  lyffe." 

It  was  therefore  not  the  German  but  the  Dutch 
Ulenspiegel  which  was  introduced  into  England,  and 
this  Dutch  version  differed  very  much  from  the  Ger- 

1  Charles  H.    Herford,  Studies  in   the  literary  relations  of  England 
and  Germany,   Cambridge,   1886. 

2  Ibid,  285. 

3  Ibid. 


JEST  BOOKS  AND   ANECDOTES  181 

man,  as  far  as  many  things  were  left  out  and  one  new 
chapter  brought  in,  viz.,  "How  Howleglass  answered 
the  man  who  asked  him  about  the  way."1  '  Besides 
this,  the  English  version  contained  a  chapter  with 
verses  entitled  "How  Howleglass  came  to  a  scholar 
to  make  verses  with  hym  to  the  use  of  reason."2 

Neither  in  England  nor  in  Scotland  did  the  Ulen- 
spiegel,  under  his  new  name  of  Howleglass,  find  sym- 
pathy among  the  strong  religious  people  of  the 
Protestants  of  that  time.  But  at  least  in  England, 
under  the  reign  of  the  not  very  religious  Queen  Eliz- 
abeth, and  under  the  merry-making  Stuarts,  existed 
all  the  time  a  strong  party,  which  was  humanistic 
rather  than  religious,  in  the  eyes  of  which  Howleglass 
found  more  favor,  so  that,  as  Herford  says,  he  "gravi- 
tated at  once  to  the  class  of  native  jesters,"  lost  all 
foreign  associations,  and  became  an  inseparable  mem- 
ber of  the  Brotherhood  of  Scogins  and  Skeletons, 
Robin  Goodfellows  and  Robin  Hoods,  and  his  history 
took  its  place  in  the  library  of  Captain  Cox,  etc.3  On 
the  contrary,  in  Scotland  the  name  of  Howleglass 
"became  a  taunt,  if  not  an  insult,  and  was  intruded 
into  the  most  acrid  region  of  the  polemical  vocabu- 
lary."4 The  land  of  John  Knox  seemed  not  to  be  the 
best  country  for  Howleglass. 

1  In  Dutch,  Hoe  UlcnspiegJiel  an-worde  eenen  man  die  nae  den  week 
vraghcde."     Herford,  p.  286. 

2  Ibid. 

3  Ibid,  288. 

4  Ibid,   287. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
HADRIANUS  JUNIUS,  1511-1575 

"Next  to  Erasmus,  the  most  learned  man  in 
Europe,"  that  is  what  the  well  known  philologist, 
Lipsius  of  Leyden,  said  about  Hadrianus  Junius. 
Another,  viz.,  Lucas  Fruterius,  called  him  "seterni 
felix  successor  Erasmi"  (the  happy  successor  of  the 
immortal  Erasmus),  and  several  others  made  a  com- 
parison between  Junius  and  the  great  scholar  of  Rot- 
terdam. Andj  indeed,  there  is  some  reason  for  com- 
paring these  two  great  humanists  of  European  fame. 
They  had  in  common  (i)  the  same  devotion  to  the 
revival  of  Greek  and  Roman  literature,  (2)  the  same 
attitude  towards  the  religious  movement  of  their  time 
in  keeping  themselves  outside  of  the  terrible  struggle, 
and  (3)  the  same  international  life  and  international 
significance  in  their  work. 

We  know  that  Erasmus  spent  about  seven  years 
in  England.  Junius  as  well — strangely  enough — lived 
about  seven  years  in  England,  and  dedicated  some  of 
his  works  successively  to  King  Edward  VI,  Queen 
"Bloody  Mary"  and  Queen  Elizabeth.  Was  Erasmus 
invited  to  England  by  one  of  his  pupils,  the  young 
Lord  Mount  joy,  Junius  was  invited  to  Britain  by 
Bonerus,  the  Bishop  of  London.  To  Erasmus  were 
offered  lucrative  positions  by  several  European 
sovereigns  and  Prelates ;  Junius  was  tutor  to  the  son 
of  King  Frederic  II  of  Denmark;  the  University  of 
Rostock  offered  him  a  professorship,  and  the  King 
of  Poland,  as  well  as  the  King  of  Hungary,  offered 
him  lucrative  positions.  Erasmus  published  numerous 

182 


['{!i$WOTpfp'i!i,, 
_.__.__       studio,   fr 
nuttc  ,  fnrrzUs    readita 


HADRIANUS  JUNIUS  183 

works  to  foster  the  revival  of  classic  literature; 
Junius'  list  of  publications,  among  which  we  find  a 
great  number  of  Greek  and  Latin  authors,  amounts 
to  the  number  of  forty-two.  A  young  man  of  twenty- 
five  years  at  the  time  when  Erasmus  died,  the  fame 
of  this  great  compatriot  must  have  been  a  stimulus 
for  Junius  to  follow  in  his  steps.'  And  although 
Junius  studied  philosophy  and  medicine  at  the  uni- 
versity, and  later,  in  order  to  make  a  living,  always 
practiced  as  a  physician,  yet  he  devoted  the  greater 
part  of  his  life  to  the  study  of  languages  and  litera- 
ture; all  his  books  are  on  philological  subjects;  and 
his  European  fame  is  that  of  a  philologist.  It  often 
happens  in  history  that  a  man,  after  the  short  years 
of  his  life  in  the  University  gets  his  degree  in  one 
branch  of  knowledge,  and  later  produces  his  best 
works  in  another  branch.  The  great  philologist, 
Franciscus  Junius,  the  father  of  comparative  philology 
(not  a  relative  of  Hadrianus  Junius),  took  his  degree 
in  theology,  and  in  our  own  time  the  Rev.  W.  W. 
Skeat,  although  a  clergyman,  gave  us  the  great  ety- 
mological dictionary  of  the  English  language.  For  the 
real  scholar  it  means  little  how  he  is  labelled  at  the  end 
of  his  short  college  life.  What  distinguished  Eras- 
mus from  Junius  was  ( i )  that  none  of  the  writings  of 
Junius,  because  of  the  special  character  of  his  work, 
became  as  popular  as  the  Praise  of  Folly  and  the 
Colloquies,  (2)  that  in  Erasmus  we  find  a  decidedly 
Christian  humanism,  while  in  Junius  the  humanist 
stands  so  much  in  the  foreground  that  the  Christian 
nearly  disappears  altogether. 

Hadrianus  Junius,  whose  original  Dutch  name  was 
Adriaen  de  Jongh,  was  born  in  the  year  1511  at  Hoorn, 
one  of  the  old  cities  on  the  Zuyder  Sea,  studied  at 
the  Latin  school  at  Haarlem,  and  later  at  the  Uni- 


184  HADRIANUS   JUNWS 

versity  of  Louvain.  At  Lotivain  he  studied  philoso- 
phy and  medicine,  and  after  two  years  he  went  to 
Germany  and  later  to  Italy,  where  in  the  year  1540, 
at  Bologna,  he  got  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philoso- 
phy and  Doctor  of  Medicine.  From  Italy  he  went  to 
Paris  to  take  the  courses  of  some  famous  professors 
in  medicine. 

About  the  year  1543 — the  exact  date  is  unknown — 
the  Bishop  of  London,  Edmund  Bonner,  invited  him 
to  cross  the  Channel  and  to  live  in  England.  Soon 
afterwards  Junius  became  the  family  physician  of  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk  at  Kenninghall,  near  Norwich,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  tutor  of  the  Duke's  son.  In 
1547,  however,  his  protector  fell  into  disgrace  with 
King  Henry  VIII,  and  was  beheaded,  and  Junius  lost 
not  only  his  office  but  also  the  property,  including 
books  and  manuscripts,  which  he  had  with  him.  After 
this  disaster,  he  became  the  physician  of  a  noble  lady, 
and  we  know  that  at  that  time  he  was  much  esteemed 
both  as  a  physician  and  as  a  scholar,  for  he  received 
several  calls.  To  the  new  King,  Edward  VI  (1557- 
1553),  he  dedicated  his  Lexicon  Grccco-Latinum,  and 
this  lexicon  was  one  of  Junius'  most  important  works, 
which  made  his  name  immortal  in  the  field  of  lexicog- 
raphy. He  added  more  than  six  thousand  words  to 
the  best  Greek  dictionary  existing  at  that  time.  What 
that  meant  for  the  study  and  the  fostering  of  Greek 
literature  everybody  can  easily  understand.  But  now 
his  heart  was  longing  for  his  native  country,  and  after 
an  abode  of  more  than  six  years  in  England,  he  went 
back  to  Holland,  probably  in  the  year  1550.  Four 
years  later  we  find  him  again  in  England,  under  the 
reign  of  Bloody  Mary  (1553-1558),  and  after  this 
queen  married  Philip  II  of  Spain,  Junius  wrote  a 
poem  entitled  "Philip  pels  sive  EpithalaniiuM  in 


HADRIANUS  JUNIUS  185 

Philip  pi  ct  Mar  iff  nnptias,  which  was  printed  at  Lon- 
don in  1554,  and  dedicated  to  Queen  Mary  and  Philip. 
Several  years  later  in  the  year  1568,  Junius  was  in 
England  for  the  third  time,  now  dedicating  one  of 
his  works,  entitled  Eunapius  Sardianus,  printed  at 
Antwerp,  to  Queen  Elizabeth  (1550-1603). 

The  rest  of  his  life  Junius  spent  in  the  Nether- 
lands, first  as  physician  and  as  rector  of  the  Latin 
school  at  Haarlem,  later  as  historiographer  of  the 
States  of  Holland.  In  this  capacity  he  wrote  his 
"Batavia,"  or  a  history  of  Holland  and  its  cities.  In 
this  book  he  gives  his  well-known  narrative  of  the 
invention  of  book  printing  by  Koster  at  Haarlem,  a 
narrative  which  since  that  time  has  been  one  of  the 
arguments  in  favor  of  Koster  and  against  Gutenberg 
of  Maintz  as  the  inventor  of  printing. 

During  the  siege  of  Haarlem  in  1573,  Junius  was 
present,  but  he  fled  in  time  to  Delft  to  assist  Prince 
William,  the  Silent,  as  physician.  Nearly  all  his 
books  and  manuscripts,  however,  were  destroyed  by 
the  Spaniards  after  the  surrender  of  Haarlem. 

The  next  year,  1574,  after  the  conquest  of  Mid- 
delburg  by  the  sea-beggars  of  the  Prince,  Junius,  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  Prince,  was  made  physi- 
cian of  that  city,  but  the  next  year,  1575,  he  died,  and 
was  buried  in  the  great  church,  where  a  monument 
indicates  the  place  of  his  grave. 

A  biography  of  Junius  was  written  by  P.  Schel- 
tema — "Diatribe  in  Hadriani  Junii  vitam,  ingeninm, 
familiam,  merita  liter  aria.  Amsterdam,  1836.  One 
of  the  best  articles  on  Junius  is  that  of  A.  G.  Hoff- 
man in  Ersch  und  Gruber.  A  list  of  the  works  of 
Junius  is  given  in  the  Dutch  Biographical  Dictionary 
of  Van  der  Aa,  containing  not  less  than  forty-two 
titles,  all  written  in  Latin.  A  great  number  of  his 


186  HADRIANUS   JUNIUS 

works  are  editions  and  commentaries  of  Greek  and 
Latin  authors,  among  whom  we  find  Seneca,  Homer, 
Juvenalis,  Horatius,  Virgilius,  Martialis,  Plautus  and 
Plinius.  Very  few  of  his  works,  except  the  "Batavia" 
and  the  "Emblemata,"  were  translated  into  Dutch. 
The  Emblems  were  translated  also  into  French.  One 
of  his  most  important  works  in  the  field  of  Lexicog- 
raphy was  his  ^Nomenclator  omnium  rerum  propria 
nomina  variis  linguis  explicata  indicans."  Antwerp, 
1567.  This  work  was  often  reprinted,  and -in  1585, 
in  London,  was  published  an  English  edition,  with  the 
title  "The  Nomenclator  or  Remembrancer  of  Adrianus 
Junius,  Physician,  divided  in  two  tomes,  containing 
proper  names  and  apt  termes  for  all  things  under  their 
convenient  titles,  which  within  a  few  leaves  do  follow. 
Written  by  the  said  Adr.  Jun.,  in  Latine,  Greeke, 
French  and  other  foreign  tongues,  and  now  in  Eng- 
lish by  John  Higins — with  a  full  supplie  of  all  such 
words  as  the  last  enlarged  edition  afforded."1 

As  a  poet,  he  is  known  for  several  poems  in  Latin, 
brought  together  long  after  his  death  in  one  volume, 
as  "Poematum  liber  primus,"  in  1598. 

Continuing  the  work  of  Erasmus,  he  published 
"Adagiorum  ab  Erasmo  omissorum  centuries  octo  cum 
dimidia,"  Basel  1558;  reprinted  in  1598. 

His  influence  in  introducing  the  riches  of  Greek 
and  Roman  literature  into  the  national  literature  of 
several  countries,  and  in  fostering  the  study  of  Greek 
and  Latin,  has  been  appreciated  by  the  best  philologists 
from  his  time  till  the  present  day.  And  not  the  least 
part  of  that  influence  he  exerted  in  England,  where 
during  seven  years  the  circles  of  the  higher  class  at 
London  and  at  Norwich  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  his 
personal  acquaintance  and  conversation. 

1  The  "Nomenclator"  has  been  reprinted  at  least  in  ten  editions: 
in  1557.  1567,  1576,  1596  at  Antwerp,  in  1590  at  Frankfort,  in  1606  at 
Paris,  also  a  French  translation  in  1606,  in  1611  and  1619  at  Geneve,  in 
1671  at  Bois  le  due,  in  1585  at  London. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  FIRST  COMPLETE  ENGLISH  BIBLE  PRINTED  AT 
ANTWERP,  1527-1535,  AS  A  MISSIONARY  WORK  OF 
THE  DUTCH.  MILES  COVERDALE  IN  THE  SERVICE 
OF  JACOB  VAN  METEREN. 

The  church  of  the  Middle  Ages  did  not  give  the 
bible  into  the  hands  of  every  man.  The  rhymed-bible 
of  Jacob  van  Maerlant  in  the  Dutch  language,  and — 
hundred  years  later — the  bible  of  Wicliff  in  English, 
began  a  new  movement,  and  the  written  copies  of 
these  translations  came  into  many  hands,  but  into  the 
reach  of  the  great  mass  of  people  the  bible  came  first 
after  the  invention  of  printing,  when  it  was  translated 
and  printed  in  English,  Dutch,  French,  German  and 
other  languages.  Since  that  time  the  printed  bible  in 
the  vernacular  of  the  people  has  had  an  influence  on 
the  language  and  the  literature  of  every  Protestant 
nation,  which  hardly  can  be  overestimated.  The 
language,  the  expressions,  the  stories,  the  style  of  the 
bible  became  part  of  the  life  and  the  thought  of  the 
people,  and  got  a  place  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
nations.  The  bible  became  an  important  element  in 
the  development  of  language  and  the  literature. 
Therefore,  the  translation  and  printing  of  the  bible 
has  been  in  the  history  of  every  nation  an  event  of 
importance  to  its  language  and  its  literature. 

In  the  Netherlands,  the  first  complete  bible  in  the 
Dutch  language  was  that  of  Liesveld,  printed  at  Ant- 

187 


188  FIRST   COMPLETE   ENGLISH   BIBLE 

werp  in  the  year  1526.  Luther's  bible  in  the  German 
language  was  completed  and  printed  at  first  in  1534. 
And  the  first  English  bible,  commonly  called  the  bible 
of  Coverdale,  was  translated  and  printed  during  the 
years  1527-1535,  and  consequently  published  in  1535. 

It  was  in  the  Netherlands  that  this  first  bible  in  the 
English  language  was  translated,  printed  and  given 
to  the  English  nation.  A  wealthy  merchant  at  Ant- 
werp called  Jacob  van  Meteren,  the  father  of  the 
famous  historian  Immanuel  van  Meteren,  came  often 
to  London,  and,  being  a  zealous  and  pious  Protestant, 
wished  to  do  something  for  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
among  the  English  people.  Therefore,  he  took  into 
his  service  a  learned  Englishman  by  the  name  of  Miles 
Coverdale,  who,  at  that  time,  happened  to  be  at  Ant- 
werp, in  order  that  Coverdale  should  translate  the 
bible  into  English.  Van  Meteren  did  not  ask  a.  trans- 
lation from  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek  languages 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  for  which  work  cer- 
tainly Coverdale  would  not  have  been  the  right  man, 
but  the  originals  from  which  he  had  to  translate,  and 
which  he  could  use,  were  the  Dutch  version,  and  the 
Latin,  called  the  Vulgate,  and,  furthermore,  Jacob 
van  Meteren  paid  all  the  expenses  for  having  the 
whole  work  printed.  His  purpose  in  this  expensive 
work  was  a  missionary  one,  as  he  says  "tot  groote 
bevordering  van  het  Rycke  Christi  in  Engelandt"  (to 
the  great  fostering  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in 
England). 

Before  the  publishing  of  this  "bible  of  Coverdale," 
several  parts  of  the  bible  had  been  printed,  for 
instance,  in  "The  Golden  Legend"  of  Caxton,  and 
some  other  parts,  as  the  Pentateuch,  and  even  the 
New  Testament  of  Tyndale,  were  printed  in  Germany, 


FIRST   COMPLETE   ENGLISH   BIBLE  189 

But  as  a  complete  English  bible,  this  work  of  Van 
Meteren,  and  Coverdale  was  the  first.  About  this 
story  of  Van  Meteren  we  read  in  the  Encyclopaedia 
Brittannica,  "Mr.  Henry  Stevens  has  pointed  out  that 
in  a  biographical  notice  of  Immanuel  van  Meteren,  ap- 
pended to  his  history  of  Belgium  by  Simon  Ruytinck, 
the  latter  states  that  Jacob  van  Meteren,  the  father  of 
Immanuel,  had  manifested  great  zeal  in  producing  at 
Antwerp  a  translation  of  the  bible  into  English  "for 
the  advancement  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  Eng- 
land, and  for  this  purpose  he  employed  a  certain 
learned  scholar  named  Miles  Coverdale."  As  Van 
Meteren  had  been  taught  the  art  of  printing  in  his 
youth,  it  seems  very  probable  that  he  exercised  his 
zeal  in  the  matter  by  undertaking  the  cost  of  printing 
the  work  as  well  as  that  of  remunerating  the  trans- 
lator. The  woodcuts  in  Coverdale's  bible,  but  not 
the  type,  have  been  traced  back  to  James  Nicolson, 
printer  in  St.  Thomas'  hospital  in  1535,  and  Mr. 
Stevens  connects  him  with  the  book  and  with  Van 
Meteren  in  the  following  manner :  "The  London 
book  binders  and  stationers,  finding  the  market  filled 
with  foreign  books,  especially  Testaments,  made  com- 
plaint in  1533-34,  and  petitioned  for  relief;  in  conse- 
quence of  which  a  statute  was  passed  compelling  for- 
eigners to  sell  their  editions  entire  to  some  London 
stationer,  in  sheets,  so  that  the  binders  might  not 
suffer.  This  new  law  was  to  come  into  operation 
about  the  beginning  of  1535.  In  consequence  of  this 
law,  Jacob  van  Meteren,  as  his  bible  approached  com- 
pletion, was  obliged  to  come  to  London  to  sell  the 
edition.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  he  sold  it 
to  James  Nicolson  of  Southwark,  who  not  only  bought 
the  entire  edition,  but  the  woodcuts,  and  probably 
the  punches  and  type;  but,  if  the  latter,  they  were 


190  FIRST   COMPLETE   ENGLISH  BIBLE 

doubtless  lost  in  transmission  as  they  have  never 
turned  up  in  any  shape  since.  All  the  copies  of  the 
Coverdale  bible  in  the  original  condition,  as  far  as 
we  know,  have  appeared  in  English  binding,  thus  con- 
firming this  law  of  1534.  (Caxton  Celebration  Catal, 
p.  88-89).  I*  ^  now  evident  that  Coverdale  refers 
partly,  at  least  to  Jacob  van  Meteren  when  he  says  in 
his  dedication :  "Trusting  in  His  infinite  goodness  that 
He  would  bring  my  simple  and  rude  labour  herein  to 
good  effect,  therefore,  as  the  Holy  Ghost  moved  other 
men,  to  do  the  cost  hereof,  so  was  I  boldened  in  God 
to  labour  in  the  same."  "The  discovery  of  Ruytinck's 
statement  seems  to  show  conclusively  that  Coverdale 
completed  "his  translation,  after  Wolsey's  fall,  at  the 
cost  of  Van  Meteren,  and  at  Antwerp  instead  of  Cam- 
bridge." "The  first  of  all  printed  English  bibles  is 
a  small  folio  volume  measuring  n^4  by  8  inches,  and 
bears  the  title:  "Biblia,  The  Bible,  that  is,  the  Holy 
Scripture  -of  the  Olde  and  New  Testament,  faithfully 
and  truly  translated  out  of  Douche  (Dutch)  and 
Latyn  into  Englyshe  MDXXXV,"  with  the  texts  2. 
Thes.  iii-i,  Col.  iii-i6,  Josh,  i-8  underneath.  The 
colophon  is:  Prynted  in  the  yeare  of  our  Lord 
MDXXXV,  and  fynished  the  fourth  daye  of  October." 
The  title  page  was,  however,  for  some  reason  can- 
celled immediately,  and  only  one  perfect  copy  of  it  is 
known.  The  new  title  page  with  the  same  date,  1535, 
merely  says:  "faythfully  translated  into  Englyshe," 
omitting  the  words  "and  truly"  and  "out  of  Douche 
and  Latyn."  Encycl.  Britt.  in  voce:  English  Bible. 
The  English  publisher  thought  it  unnecessary  to 
mention  so  exactly  that  this  bible  was  translated  from 
the  Dutch  and  the  Latin,  nor  did  he  give  a  single 
word  to  the  real  story  of  the  translation.  Appar- 
ently he  looked  at  the  matter  from  the  point  of  view 
of  a  business  man. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  EMBLEM  BOOKS,  VAN  DER  NOOT,  ERASMUS, 
HADRIANUS  JUNIUS,  WHITNEY,  PLANTYN,  JACOB 
CATS. 

The  word  "emblem,"  in  Latin,  "emblema,"  is  from 
the  Greek  verb,  "emballein,"  to  lay  or  throw  in,  and 
so  emblem  means  the  representation  of  some  idea, 
thought  or  story;  for  instance,  a  crown  is  called  the 
emblem  of  royalty,  the  balance  is  the  emblem  of  jus- 
tice, a  scepter  the  emblem  of  power. 

Books  containing  nothing  else  but  a  number  of 
those  emblems,  illustrations,  wood  cuts  or  copper- 
plates, with  mottos  at  the  head  and  an  explanatory 
poem  underneath,  became  very  popular  in  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  this  is  easily  understood.  The 
Rennaissance  brought  the  wisdom  for  life  which  was 
found  in  the  riches  of  Greek  and  Roman  Literature, 
not  in  a  systematic  and  philosophical  form — the  time 
for  a  modern  philosophy  had  not  yet  come,  and  the 
philosophical  system  of  the  Reformation  was  too  much 
different  from,  and  opposed  to  that  of  the  classic 
humanism — but  in  the  didactic  form  of  adages, 
proverbs,  "dictes  and  sayings,"  or,  however,  they  may 
have  been  called.  Caxton's  first  book,  printed  in  Eng- 
land, was  the  "dictes  and  sayinges;"  Erasmus' 
Adages,  in  the  first  edition  containing  only  800,  grew 
in  the  later  editions  to  the  number  of  4,000;  Hadri- 
amus  Junius,  in  his  volume  of  Adages  added  to  them 
several  hundreds  not  yet  found  in  Erasmus. 

As  soon  as  the  art  of  printing  was  advanced  far 
enough  to  reproduce  illustrations ;  painters  and  en- 

191 


192  THE   EMBLEM-BOOKS 

gravers,  pupils  of  the  schools  of  Marc  Antonio, 
Albrecht  Durer,  Lucas  van  Leyden,  found  a  new  field 
for  their  art  in  producing  pictures  with  which  the 
printers  might  illustrate  proverbs  and  adages;  poets 
then  wrote  their  explanations  in  verses,  and  so  the 
emblems  were  born.  What  case-books  are  for  the  law 
student  today,  the  emblem-books  were  for  general 
education,  and  especially  for  the  development  of  wis- 
dom in  life,  during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries.  The  luxurious  editions  of  the  best 
authors,  illustrated  with  the  best  pictures,  and  to  be 
found  in  the  family  library  of  all  wealthy  people  are 
today  what  the  emblem  books  were  during  the  first 
centuries  of  modern  history.  And  those  whose  re- 
fined taste  and  spiritual  aristocracy  disliked  the  vul- 
garity of  the  Howleglass  (Ulenspiegel)  literature, 
found  their  full  satisfaction  in  the  luxury  of  emblem 
books.  The  preyailing  life  system  of  the  nations  in 
Europe  was  still  that  of  the  Christian  Church,  and 
this  system  was  soon  explained  more  clearly,  more 
logically,  and  more  elaborately  by  the  Reformers  than 
ever  before.  For  the  foundations  of  this  system  as 
a  whole  all  the  reviving  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome 
was  of  little  or  no  value.  But  for  the  common  wisdom 
of  daily  human  life,  the  heathen  literature  of  Rome 
and  Greece  produced  a  richness  of  scattered  and  sep- 
arate proverbs  and  devices,  adages  and  practical  les- 
sons, parables  and  stories,  which  the  great  mass  of 
the  rising  democracy  enj../~d  immensely.  Even 
Theodore  Beza,  the  intimate  frend  and  successor  of 
Calvin,  saw  this  blessing  which  there  was  in  the  wis- 
dom of  the  old  classic  world  raid  published  his  'Tor- 
traits  and  Emblems"  in  accordance  with  what  people 
needed  and  enjoyed  along  that  line  for  their  social 
life.  Soon  the  emblem-literature  got  an  illustrious 


.VAN  H.  M.HEER£N  STATE!*  VAN  HOLLANT  CVRAT.VAH  LEYDS  ACAJD. 

id.  ivaj,  en  u  m&k-'  v  (M)af  tck  namadj  ' 

K£  bin,  is  'wvwtr-  tvtr,  £^tfwf  G^fF^wt^ 

Excvorr 


JACOB  CATS. 
Kopergravure  dootl  Michael  Natalis  naar  P.  Dubordieu. 


THE  EMBLEM-BOOKS  193 

name  all  over  Europe.  "With  Andreas  Alciatus," 
says  Green,1  "in  1522,  we  may  date  the  rise  of  the  em- 
blem-literature and  its  popularity ;  with  Paolo,  Giovio, 
Bocchius  and  Sambucus,  its  continuance ;  with  Jacob 
Cats,  its  glory,  that  still  shines  and  has  lately  been 
renewed."2 

In  England  this  emblem-literature  was  not  less 
popular  than  in  the  other  parts  of  Europe,  and,  here 
we  find  again  the  influence  of  Holland  on  English 
literature.  The  first  emblem-book  in  English  was  the 
"Theatre  of  voluptuous  worldlings,"  of  Jan  van  Der 
Noot,  the  Dutch  nobleman,  whose  influence  will  be 
treated  more  elaborately  in  connection  with  Spenser. 
It  seems  that  Henry  Green,  in  his  beautiful  work  on 
Geffrey  Whitney's  "Choice  of  Emblemes,"  did  not 
know  Van  der  Noot  at  all,  probably  because  the  ques- 
tion Spenser- Van  der  Noot  at  that  time  was  not  yet 
as  prominent  as  in  our  present  time.  But  other  Eng- 
lish authors,  as  for  instance,  Charles  H.  Herford,  in 
his  Studies  on  the  literary  relations  between  Germany 
and  England  (p.  369),  recognizes  as  a  mere  matter  of 
fact  that  Van  der  Noot  gave  to  England  the  first  Eng- 
lish emblem-book.3  It  was  printed  at  London  in  the 
year  1569. 

One  of  the  most  famous  English  emblem-books, 
however,  is  that  of  Geffrey  Whitney,  entitled  "A 
Choice  of  Emblemes"  "and  other  devices  for  the  moste 
parte  gathered  out  of  sundrie  writers  Englished  and 
Moralized  and  divers  newly  devised,"  "Imprinted  at 
Leyden  in  the  house  of  Christopher  Plantyn,  by 
Francis  Raphelengius,  1586." 

This   remarkable  book,   one   of  the  most  artistic 


1  Henry  Green,  Whitney's  Choice  of  Emblemes.     A  facsimile  reprint 
with  explanations.     London.     Covell  Reeve  &  Co.,   1860. 

2  Green  alludes  here  to  the   English   editions  of  Emblems  of  Cats, 
in   1862. 

3  Green,   Whitney,   p.    268.      August   Vermeulen,   Leven   en    Werken 
•van  Jonkheer  Jan  van  der  Noot.     Antwerp,  1899,  P-  47. 

13 


194  THE  EMBLEM-BOOKS 

examples  of  book  printing  during  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, combining  its  248  wood  cuts  with  the  same  num- 
ber of  devices  and  poems,  has  been  reprinted  in  fac- 
simile and  provided  with  elaborate  introductions  and 
explanations,  by  Henry  Green,  London,  Lovell  Reeve 
&  Co.,  1866. 

Little  is  known  about  the  author  of  this  splendid 
work,  as  it  lies  before  us  in  the  beautiful  edition  of 
Mr.  Green,  an  edition  which  makes  the  name  of 
Mr.  Green  immortal  in  the  history  of  literature. 
But  what  we,  after  the  researches  of  Mr.  Green,  know 
about  Geffrey  Whitney,  brings  him  and  his  work  into 
immediate  contact  with  the  Netherlands. 

The  work  is  dedicated  to  "the  right  honorable  my 
singular  good  Lord  and  Maister  Robert  Earle  of 
Leicester,  etc.,  Lorde  Lieutenant  and  Captaine  Gen- 
eral of  her  Majesties  forces  in  the  lowe  countries." 
It  is  "imprinted  at  Leyden  in  the  house  of  Christo- 
pher Plantyn,  by  Francis  Raphelengius,  1585."  The 
press  of  Plantyn,  at  Leyden,  was  at  that  time  one  of 
the  most  famous  in  the  world,  first  at  Antwerp,  later 
at  Leyden.  The  "French  historian,  De  Thou,  on  a 
journey  to  Flanders  and  Holland,  in  1576,  visited  the 
workshops  of  Plantyn  and  saw  twenty-seven  presses 
in  action,  although,  as  he  remarks,  this  famous  printer 
was  embarrassed  in  his  affairs ;  but  carrying  out  his 
well  known  motto,  Labor  et  Constantia  (work  and 
steadiness),  he  re-established  his  fortunes.  The  cata- 
logue of  Plantyn's  publications  compiled  by  M.  M.  A. 
de  Backer  and  Ch.  Buelens  gives  the  titles  of  1030 
works  which  had  their  origin  from  his  types  and 
presses."1  From  the  time  when  Christopher  Plantyn 
commenced  his  business  at  Antwerp,  in  1555,  until  his 
death  at  Leyden,  in  1589,  there  issued  from  his  press 

1  Green,   Whitney,   p.   268. 


THE  EMBLEM-BOOKS  195 

nearly  thirty  editions  of  the  chief  emblem-books  of 
the  day,  all  executed  with  the  utmost  care,  some  pos- 
sessing great  beauty  of  execution  and  one  or  two 
equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  similar  work  of  that 
age.  In  considerable  part  it  is  due  to  the  coopera- 
tion of  Christopher  Plantyn  and  his  son-in-law,  Fran- 
cis Raphelengius,  that  the  poems  of  Geffrey  Whitney 
have  been  preserved  in  so  splendid  form.  Of  the  248 
wood-cuts  in  Whitney's  work,  at  least  225  were  used 
before  by  Plantyn  in  the  emblem-books  of  Andreas 
Alciatus — the  founder  of  the  emblem-literature — 
Claude  Paradin,  John  Sambucus,  Hadrianus  Junius 
and  Gabriel  Faerni,  all  emblem-books  published  by 
Plantyn  before  Whitney's  "Choice  of  Emblemes'  and 
only  twenty-three  is  the  number  of  the  "divers  newly 
devised."1  Among  the  five  sources  of  Whitney's  work, 
just  mentioned,  we  see  the  name  of  Hadrianus  Junius, 
the  famous  Dutch  humanist,  whose  emblem-book  was 
eight  times  reprinted  by  Plantyn,  a  book  from  which 
Whitney  derived  twenty  emblems.  Some  of  the  inti- 
mate friends  of  Whitney  are  the  Englishmen,  Philip 
Sydney  and  Edmund  Spenser,  as  well  as  some  of  the 
most  learned  Dutchmen.  "A  fast  friend  of  Whitney, 
Jan  Douza,  the  elder,  was  the  first  who  presided  over 
the  newly- founded  University  at  Leyden;  another 
friend,  Bonaventura  Vulcanius,  was  the  Greek  Pro- 
fessor at  the  same  time ;  and  Justus  Lipsius  for  thir- 
teen years,  until  1590,  filled  the  chair  of  history. 
Raphelengius,  too,  by  whom  the  "Choice  of  Em- 
blemes" was  imprinted,  had  taught  Greek  in  Cam- 
bridge when  Whitney  was  a  student,  or  shortly  before, 
and  thus  we  have  all  the  elements  of  the  acquaintance 
and  friendship  between  our  poet  and  several  of  the 
eminent  men  by  whom  Leyden  was  adorned.2 

1  Ibid,  p.  266. 

2  Green,   Ibid,   Introduction,  p.   1,1V. 


196  THE   EMBLEM-BOOKS 

Jan  Douza,  Bonaventura  Vulcanius,  and  Peter  Col- 
vins  of  Bruges,  wrote  poems  on  the  Emblems  of 
Whitney.  So  we  find  in  Whitney's  life  and  in  his 
work  one  of  the  best  links  between  the  most  learned 
and  literary  men  of  England,  and  of  the  Netherlands, 
during  the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

If  Van  der  Noot  gave  to  England  its  first  English 
emblem-book,  Whitney's  Choice  of  Emblemes,  prob- 
ably one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  English  Literature, 
was  written  under  the  suggestions  of  his  Dutch 
friends  and  printed  at  the  press  of  Plantyn.1 

Half  a  century  later,  another  English  Emblem- 
book  was  published,  mentioned  by  Green,2  as  Hey- 
wood's  Pleasant  Dialogue,  etc.,  extracted  from  Jacob 
Catsius,  1637.  Now  Jacob  Cats  (1577-1660)  was  the 
well-known  and  most  popular  poet  of  the  Nether- 
lands, about  whose  life  and  work  there  are  articles 
or  chapters  in  any  book  on  the  history  of  Dutch  Lit- 
erature. During  more  than  150  years  the  poetical 
works  of  'Father  Cats"  were  found  in  every  Dutch 
home,  providing  the  Dutch  families  with  that  abun- 
dance of  wisdom  of  life  for  which  this  prince  of  didac- 
tic poetry  has  an  immortal  fame.  "Britain,"  says 
Green,  "can  advance  no  early  claims  to  originality  in 
the  production  of  emblem-books,  and  scarcely  im- 
proved the  works  of  this  kind,  which  she  touched  upon 
and  translated,  yet  she  took  no  inconsiderable  interest 
in  emblem-literature;  and  during  the  century,  begin- 
ning with  Whitney  and  ending  with  Arwaker — if  we 
except  Jacob  Cats,  who  died  in  1660  in  his  eighty- 
third  year,  and  who  to  this  day  is  spoken  of  famil- 
iarly yet  affectionately  in  Holland  as  "Vader  Cats" — 

1  About  the  life  and  works  of  Whitney  see  more  elaborate  treatment 
in  Green's  edition  of  the  Choice  of  Emblemes. 

2  Green,   Ibid,  Introduction,  p.  XXII. 


THE   EMBLEM-BOOKS  197 

our  country  may  be  said  to  have  marched  at  least  with 
equal  steps  by  the  side  of  other  European  nations."1 
As  far  as  Jacob  Cats  is  concerned,  Green  says:  "A 
splendid  tribute  to  his  excellence  has  lately  been  sup- 
plied by  the  publication  of  'Moral  Emblems  from 
Jacob  Cats  and  Robert  Farlie,"  London,  1862.  "The 
beautiful  illustrations  by  John  Leighton  and  the  trans- 
lation by  the  editor  Richart  Pigot,  are  contributions 
in  all  respects  worthy  of  emblem-art  and  deserve  the 
admiration  of  all  lovers  of  the  old  proverbial  philos- 
ophy and  literature."2  During  the  eighteenth  century 
the  Emblems  of  "father  Cats"  were  so  well  known  in 
England  that  the  famous  painter,  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds, 
in  his  youth  took  delight  in  studying  them.  In  the 
Encyclopaedia  Brittanica,  article  on  Jacob  Cats,  we 
read:  "His  book  of  Emblems  was  a  great  favorite 
with  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  in  his  childhood,  being  often 
styled  The  Household  Bible."  Those  emblems  cer- 
tainly must  have  inspired  the  young  Reynolds  with 
love  for  pictures  representing  fine  ideas  and  lessons, 
and  nobody  knows  how  much  they  may  have  contrib- 
uted to  the  wonderful  inspiration  which  in  later  time 
made  a  great  painter  out  of  the  emblem-studying  boy. 
One  more  emblem-book,  printed  in  the  Netherlands 
and  later  translated  into  English,  is  mentioned  by 
Green — viz.,  Hugo  Hermann's  Pia  desideria,  Gemitus, 
Vota,  animae  poenitentiae,  etc.  (Pious  aspirations, 
Groans,  Vows,  and  Sighs  of  a  penitent  soul,  etc.), 
published  at  Antwerp  in  1628  with  wood  cuts ;  and 
again  in  1632  with  Bolswert's  beautiful  copperplates. 
It  was  Englished  by  Edmund  Arwaker,  M.A.,  in  1686, 
and  illustrated  with  forty-seven  copperplates;  but  the 
omissions  and  alterations  of  the  original,  render  it 
scarcely  deserving  the  name  of  a  translation.3 

1  Green,  Introduction,  p.  XXII. 

2  Ibid.,   XXIII. 

3  Green,  Introduction,  XXII. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

GEORGE  GASCOIGNE — His  ABODE  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS 
AND  His  WORKS — His  "GLASSE  OF  GOVERNMENT" 
AND  THE  LATIN  SCHOOL-DRAMAS  IN  HOLLAND — 
MACROPEDIUS — GNAPHAEUS. 

It  was  during  the  winter  of  the  years  1573-1574 
that  a  tall  English  gentleman,  whom  his  English 
friends  called  "long  George,"  lived  in  the  little  Dutch 
city  of  Delft.  The  citizens  of  Delft  called  him  "de 
groene  hopman"  (the  green  captain),  and  for  this 
reason,  in  later  time  he  alluded  to  himself  as  "the 
green  knight."1  Prince  William  the  Silent,  at  that 
time  had  his  residence  at  Delft,  and  the  green  captain 
came  especially  thither  to  see  the  Prince,  who  received 
him  very  kindly,  although  the  citizens  of  Delft  did 
not  trust  the  adventurous  and  strange  Englishman, 
who  had  received  a  letter  from  the  camp  of  the  enemy 
at  the  Hague,  written  by  a  lady,  with  whom  he  appar- 
ently stood  in  pretty  intimate  connection.  But  the 
captain  explained  the  matter  to  the  satisfaction  of  the 
Prince,  and  everything  was  all  right. 

That  "green  captain"  was  George  Gascoigne,  the 
poet-soldier,  a  pioneer  of  Elizabethan  literature,  an  im- 
mediate precursor  of  Philip  Sydney,  Edmund  Spenser 
and  Shakespeare,  the  later  author  of  the  first  famous 
English  satire,  "The  Steelglass,"  of  the  beautiful  ele- 
gie,  "The  Complaint  of  Philomele"  and  of  all  those 

1  See  "The  Fruite  of  Fetters — with  the  Complaint  of  the  greene 
Knight,"  etc. 

198 


GEORGE   GASCO1GNE  199 

wonderful  stories  and  love  songs  nowadays  connected 
with  his  name. 

The  reason  why  we  find  him  at  Delft  as  "the  green 
captain"  is  to  be  found  partly  in  his  unlucky  educa- 
tion, in  his  independent  character,  in  his  geniality,  with 
such  an  amount  of  self-reliance  as  seduced  him  to  im- 
prudence and  dissipation,  with  the  consequence  that 
his  life  seemed  to  be  destined  to  become  a  failure,  and 
his  great  capacities  likely  not  to  be  recognized,  and 
partly  in  the  fame  of  the  wealthy  Netherlands  with 
their  attractiveness  for  foreign  Protestants  who  de- 
sired to  assist  in  the  struggle  for  toleration  and  free- 
dom of  thought. 

"He  was  born — probably  about  1535 — of  a  good 
Bedfordshire  family  and  educated  at  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge" ;  he  left  the  University  without  a  degree, 
entered  Gray's  Inn — one  of  the  well-known  Law 
Schools  at  London — in  1555,  and  represented  the 
county  of  Bedford  in  Parliament,  1557-1559.  "His 
youthful  extravagances  led  to  debt,  disgrace  and  dis- 
inheritance by  his  father,  Sir  John  Gascoigne."1  "In 
the  midst  of  his  youth,  he  tells  us,  he  determined  to 
abandone  all  vaine  delightes  and  to  return  unto  Greye's 
Inne,  there  to  undertake  againe  the  studdie  of  the  com- 
mon Lawe."  And  after  having  paid  his  fines  and  per- 
formed what  was  asked  from  him  he  was  accepted. 
"He  took  a  further  step  towards  reform  by  marrying 
a  rich  widow,  whose  children  by  her  first  marriage 
brought  a  suit  in  1568  for  the  protection  of  their  inter- 
ests. The  action  seems  to  have  been  amicably  settled, 
and  he  remained  on  good  terms  with  his  stepson,  Nich- 
olas Breton,  who  was  himself  a  poet  of  some  note.  But 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  as  a  man  of  middle  age  Gascoigne 
returned  to  the  evil  course  of  his  youth,  if  we  are  to 

1  The    Cambridge   History    of   English   Literature,    III,    228. 


200  GEORGE   GASCOIGNE 

accept  the  evidence  of  his  autobiographical  poem,  Dan 
Barthelemew  of  Bathe."1  In  1572  he  was  prevented 
from  taking  his  seat  in  Parliament  in  consequence  of  a 
petition  in  which  he  was  charged  with  all  kinds  of 
crooked  things.  The  obvious  intention  of  the  petition 
was  to  prevent  Gascoigne  from  pleading  privilege 
against  his  creditors,  and  securing  immunity  from 
arrest."2  About  that  time,  at  least  in  the  same  year, 
1572,  Gascoigne  made  up  his  mind  to  leave  his  father- 
land. In  trouble,  disappointed,  not  recognized ;  like 
Lord  Byron  two  centuries  later,  he  resolved  to  go 
abroad,  and,  like  a  Childe  Harolde  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  he  became  enamored  of  two  ideals,  viz.,  of 
love  and  of  liberty.  As  Byron  poured  out  his  soul 
in  songs  of  love,  and  fought  for  the  liberty  of  Greece, 
so  Gascoigne  describes  himself  as  "professing  armes 
in  the  defence  of  God's  truth"  in  the  Netherlands,  and 
there  at  the  same  time  a  stream  of  glowing  love-songs 
flowed  from  his  pen,  which  alone  were  sufficient  to 
assure  immortality  to  his  name. 

Before  he  went  to  the  Netherlands,  he  had  writ- 
ten only  his  translations,  "Supposes"  and  "Jocasta" 
and  perhaps — because  at  that  time  he  seemed  to  live 
in  the  literature  of  the  dramas — his  "Glasse  of  Gov- 
ernment," of  which  the  source  lay  before  him  in  the 
Acolastus  of  Gnapheus,  accessible  in  an  English  trans- 
lation dating  from  the  year  1540.  But  during  his 
abode  in  the  Netherlands  and  after  that  during  the 
few  last  years  of  his  life — he  died  on  the  7th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1577 — the  multitude  of  poems  on  different  sub- 
jects flowed  from  his  pen,  which  now  lie  before  us  in 
his  complete  works. 

From  the  very  first  day  of  his  departure,  the  iQth 

1  Ibid.,  229. 

2  Ibid.,  230. 


GEORGE   GASCOIGNE  201 

of  March,  1573,  from  Gravesend  to  Den  Briel,  his 
impressions  were  deep  and  interesting,  as  he  describes 
them  in  his  "Voyage  into  Hollande."  For  a  poet, 
and  a  genius,  who  had  lived  all  his  life  in  the  highest 
circles  in  England,  with  the  people  of  the  Court,  and 
with  those  of  the  best  literary  circles  of  his  time,  and 
who  was  not  at  all  acquainted  with  the  terrible  con- 
dition of  the  poor,  desperate  Protestant  people  in 
those  days  of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  it  was  indeed  a 
doubtful  experiment  to  go  to  the  Netherlands  in  order 
to  join  the  desperate  sea-beggars,  robbed  of  every- 
thing, maddened  by  the  cruelties  of  the  Spaniards, 
accustomed  to  the  roughness  of  their  deadly  warfare, 
and  we  are  not  at  all  surprised  to  find  that  from  the 
first  day  on  which  he  endured  the  dangers  of  the  sea, 
till  the  last  day  on  which  he,  in  September,  1574,  came 
back  after  having  been  for  the  last  four  months  a 
prisoner  of  the  Spaniards,  this  warfare  and  the  life 
among  those  warriors  was  a  disappointment  to 
Gascoigne. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  he  came  into  personal 
contact  with  the  Prince  of  Orange  and  his  friends,  he 
found  a  kindness,  an  idealism,  a  life  of  devotion  and 
sacrifice  to  the  best  ideals,  which  gave  satisfaction 
and  consolation  to  the  deepest  longings  of  his  soul, 
and  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  in  the  midst  of  his 
often  bitter  "Fruits  of  war"  a  poem  which  he  began 
at  Delft  with  lines  like  these : 

"Where  good  Guyllam  of  Nassau  badde  me  be 
There  needed  I  none  other  guyde  but  he."1 

Or  in  another  place : 

"O  noble  Prince,  there  are  too  fewe  like  thee ! 
If  virtue  wake,  she  watcheth  in  thy  will, 
If  justice  live,  then  surely  thou  art  hee, 


1  The   Fruits    of    War,    Hansen,    99. 


202  GEORGE   GASCOIGNE 

If  grace  do  growe,  it  groweth  with  thee  still. 
O  worthy  Prince,  would  God  I  had  the  skill 
To  write  thy  worth  that  men  thereby  might  see 
How  much  they  erre  that  speake  amisse  of  thee. 

"The  simple  Sottes  do  coumpt  thee  simple,  too, 
Whose  like  for  witte  our  age  hath  seldome  bredde, 
The  rayling  roges  mistrust  thou  darest  not  do, 
As  Hector  did  for  whom  the  Grecians  fledde, 
Although  thou  yet  werte  never  scene  to  dredde. 
The  slandrous  tongues  do  say  thou  drinkest  to  much 
When  God  he  knowes  thy  custome  is  not  such. 

"But  why  do  I  in  worthlesse  verse  devise 
To  write  his  prayse  that  doth  excell  so  far? 
He  heard  our  greeves  himself  in  gracious  wise"  etc. 

"I  could  not  leave  that  Prince  in  such  distresse 
Which  cared  for  me,  and  yet  the  cause  much  less."1 

These  lines  increase  our  knowledge  both  of  the  Prince 
and  of  Gascoigne.  Such  were  the  impressions  that 
Gascoigne  took  with  him  to  the  court  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, about  the  Prince  who  was  the  leader  of  strug- 
gling Protestantism  in  Europe.  From  the  time  Gas- 
coigne arrived  at  Den  Briel  in  March,  1573,  till  the 
next  winter,  when  we  find  him  at  Delft,  he  had  served 
as  a  captain  of  the  Sea-Beggars  under  Admiral  Boisot. 
According  to  his  own  narrative  in  "The  Fruits  of 
War"2  he  fought  against  the  Spaniards  in  Zealand, 
defending  Aardenburgh,  "in  the  trench  before  Ter- 
goes,"3  at  the  conquest  of  Fort  Rammekens,4  then 
"our  camp  removed  to  Streine"  (Stryen)  and  at  last  at 
the  siege  of  Middelburg,  the  capital  of  Zealand,  which 
surrendered  Feb.  19,  1574.  But  during  the  siege  of 

1  Fruits   of    War,    Stanza   99,    118-121. 

2  Stanzas    95-114. 

3  See    J.    Wagenaar — Historie,    VI,    p.    366    and   437.      This   was    in 
June. 

4  Wagenaar   VI,  439.      This  was  in  August,   under   Admiral    Boisot. 


GEORGE   GASCOIGNE  203 

Middelburg,  which  lasted  for  nearly  two  years, 
Gascoigne  went  to  Delft,1  with  the  intention  of  going 
back  to  England,  after  having  visited  the  Prince.  But 
William  of  Orange  made  such  an  'impression  on 
Gascoigne,  treated  him  so  kindly,  and  gave  him  such 
new  inspiration  to  fight  for  the  cause  of  liberty  and 
of  Protestantism,  that,  after  having  "dwelt  in  Delft 
a  winter's  tyde,"2  Gascoigne  returned  to  Zealand  to 
fight  on  the  side  of  the  Sea-Beggars.  The  Prince 
himself  came  at  that  time  to  Zealand  "to  hunger  Mid- 
delburg or  make  it  yield,"  and  Gascoigne  once  for 
three  days  fought  along  with  the  Sea-Beggars  before 
Flushing,  while  every  day  the  Prince  from  the  pier 
looked  at  the  fight.  And  when  Mondragon,  the  Span- 
ish commander,  at  Middelburg,  at  last  (on  February 
19,  1574)  surrendered,  Gascoigne  was  in  the  city  be- 
fore Mondragon  left: 

"And  when   Mountdragon  might  no   more  endure 
He  came  to  talk  and  rendred  all  at  last, 
With  whom  I  was  within  the  Citie  sure, 
Before  he  went,  and  on  his  promisse  past, 
So  trust  I  had  to  thinke  his  fayth  was  fast. 
I  dinde,  and  supt,  and  laye  within  the  towne 
A  daye  before  he  was  from  thence  ybowne."3 

The  Prince  of  Orange  gave  to  Gascoigne  "three 
hundred  guilders  good  above  my  pay,"  and  "bad  me 
bide  till  his  abilitie  might  better  gwerdon  my  fidelitie." 
Gascoigne  needed  very  badly  those  three  hundred 
guilders,  and  was  much  pleased,  "much  the  more  be- 
cause they  came  uncraved,  though  not  unneeded"  and 
"thereby  my  credite  still  was  saved."4  The  Prince  of 
Orange,  himself  from  his  youth  accustomed  to  high 

1  Stanza,  112,  Fruits  of  War. 

2  Stanza,  131. 

3  Stanza,  140. 

4  Stanza,  142,  Fruits  of  War. 


204  GEORGE   GASCOIGNE 

expenses  and  luxury  of  life,  understood  perfectly  the 
condition  of  Gascoigne,  and  had  seen  soon  enough 
that  Gascoigne  was  not  a  common  soldier,  but  a 
highly  civilized,  social,  courteous  and  literary  man  of 
attractive  geniality.  And  when  at  last  "a  English 
newe  relief  came  over  sea,"  of  which  Edward  Chester 
was  the  chief,  then  the  Prince,  with  the  consent  of 
Chester,  made  Gascoigne  "to  take  a  band  in  charge," 
and  soon  afterwards,  when  the  Spaniards  for  a  sec- 
ond time  started  to  besiege  Leyden — this  was  the 
famous  siege — we  find  Gascoigne  with  his  band  near 
Leyden  in  the  "new  begun  fort  Valkenburg."1  But 
the  Spaniards  pressed  upon  them  so  badly  that  they 
fled  towards  the  walls  of  Leyden,  where  Gascoigne 
with  his  band  arrived  in  the  evening.  The  citizens  of 
Leyden,  however,  afraid  of  treason  on  the  part  of  the 
English  troops,  did  not  open  their  gates  and  so  the 
English  were  forced  to  surrender  to  the  Spaniards. 
Wagenaar  tells  us,  what  Gascoigne  himself  does  not 
mention,  that  thirty  of  those  English  troops  refused 
to  surrender  and  that  those  thirty  were  allowed  to 
enter  the  city  of  Leyden.2  Anyhow,  Gascoigne  was 
made  prisoner  and  after  having  been  for  four  months 
as  prisoner  with  the  Spaniards,  was  sent  back  to 
England  in  September,  1574. 

So  his  endeavor  to  make  a  success  as  a  soldier 
became  a  failure  from  start  to  finish,  and  we  read  his 
disappointment  in  his  "Voyage  into  Holland"  as  well 
as  in  his  "Fruits  of  War."  The  only  brilliant  point 
in  this  whole  affair  is  Gascoigne's  attractiveness  as  a 
gentleman,  his  amiable  sociability  and  courtesie,  his 
noble  character,  which  attracted  not  only  the  Prince 
of  Orange  but  the  Spanish  officers  as  well.  In  Mid- 
delburg  with  Mondragon,  and  during  the  four  months 

1  Stanza    146,   J.    Wagenaar,   VI,   483. 

2  Wagenaar  VI,   484. 


GEORGE   GASCOIGNE  205 

he  was  a  prisoner,  the  Spanish  officers  treated  him 
very  kindly.  And  during  his  abode  at  Delft,  when  he 
got  a  letter  from  the  Hague,  at  that  time  the  residence 
of  the  Spanish  general  Valdez,  this  Spanish  general 
was  as  courteous  to  him  as  was  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
Gascoigne  had  a  lady  friend  living  at  the  Hague,  who 
wrote  him  a  letter  to  Delft,  for  the  bearer  of  which 
Valdez  readily  gave  a  passport.  And  in  return  the 
Prince  gave  him  a  passport  to  visit  that  lady  at  the 
Hague.  Who  that  lady  friend  was  we  do  not  know. 
We  know  that  Valdez  himself  also  had  a  lady  friend 
at  the  Hague  by  the  name  of  Magdalena  Moons,1  who 
was  nothing  more  than  his  mistress.  But  whether  she 
knew  the  lady  friend  of  Gascoigne,  or  whether  this 
had  any  connection  with  the  courtesy  of  Valdez 
towards  Gascoigne,  we  do  not  know.  Whether  that 
lady  friend  at  the  Hague  was  the  subject  of  his  hun- 
dredfold outpouring  of  love  and  devotion,  in  so  many 
of  his  beautiful  songs,  we  cannot  decide. 

Once  more,  after  his  return  to*  England,  we  find 
Gascoigne  in  the  Netherlands,  viz.,  in  the  year  1576, 
at  Antwerp.  On  the  8th  of  October  he  left  Paris, 
and  arrived  at  Antwerp  on  the  22nd  of  that  month. 
There  he  stayed  for  two  weeks,  and  then  returned  to 
England.  But  in  those  two  weeks  one  of  the  most 
dreadful  events  in  the  history  of  that  city  happened — 
an  event  known  as  the  "Spoil  of  Antwerp"  by  the 
Spaniards.  And  to  Gascoigne  we  owe  the  narrative 
of  that  dreadful  event,  as  from  an  eye  witness.2  If 
we  knew  nothing  about  the  author  of  "The  Spoil  of 
Antwerp"  except  what  he  tells  about  his  discussions 

1  See  R.  Fruin,   Verspreide  Geschniften,  VIII,  380-397. 

2  On   the  authorship  of  this  narrative  see   Edward  Arber,  An  Eng- 
lish  Garner,  VIII,    141,   where   we  find   a   reprint   of   it^  with   the   docu- 
ments   showing    Gascoigne    to    be    the    author.      The    objection   made    in 
the   Cambridge   History    of  English   Literature,    III,    235,   that   this   nar- 
rative   was    at    first    printed    anonymously,    does    not    amount    to    much 
since  the  same  happened  with  the  Hundred  Sundry  Flowers. 


206  GEORGE   GASCOIGNE 

with  the  Spanish  officers,  we  should  immediately  rec- 
ognize Gascoigne  as  he  appeared  at  Middelburg,  at 
Delft,  and  as  a  prisoner  in  the  Spanish  camp.1 

That  all  his  misfortunes,  his  experiences,  his  ad- 
ventures in  the  Netherlands  made  a  deep  impression 
on  Gascoigne  is  easily  understood,  and  may  be  felt 
through  all  the  poems  that  were  written  after  his  first 
arrival  at  Den  Briel. 

In  the  Netherlands  also  he  learned  the  French 
language,  as  he  tells  us  himself  in  his  address  to 
Queen  Elizabeth  before  his  "Tale  of  Hemetes,"  using 
the  expression,  "such  frenche  as  I  borrowed  in  Hol- 
land." 

From  Erasmus  he  borrowed  the  device  of  his 
Fruits  of  War,  which  is :  Bellum  duke  inexpertis. 

But  there  is  one  work  of  Gascoigne  which  brings 
us  still  more  directly  into  contact  not  only  with  Hol- 
land but  immediately  with  Dutch  literature,  viz.,  his 
"Glasse  of  Government."  A  short  explanation  may 
make  this  clear,  *  and  is  interesting  enough,  since 
Gascoigne  deserves  a  special  attention  for  his  place  in 
English  Literature,  as  far  as  the  development  of  the 
English  drama  is  concerned.  He  was  "the  first  to 
present  in  English  dress  a  characteristic  Italian  com- 
edy of  intrigue"  in  his  "Supposes"  and  in  the  "Bug- 
bears," and  he  is  the  first  who  used  the  vernacular 
prose  throughout  a  "prodigal  son  drama"  in  his 
"Glasse  of  Government."2 

At  that  time  there  was  a  twofold  movement — one, 
that  of  the  Renaissance,  more  aristocratic,  prevailing 
among  the  higher  classes,  favored  by  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic clergy,  and  bringing  about  a  revival  of  Roman 

1  "In     1602,"    says    Arber,    "an    anonymously    written    play,    based 
on    the    narrative,    was   published   in   London,    under   the   title,    "Alarum 
for  London,  or  the  Siege  of  Antwerp."    An  English  Garner,  VIII,  167. 

2  Cambridge  History   of  English  Literature,   V,    p.    128. 


GEORGE   GASCOIGNE  207 

and  Greek  literature;  and  another  one,  that  of  the 
Reformation,  more  democratic,  moving  the  masses  of 
the  rising  democracy,  religious  in  its  character,  bring- 
ing learning  and  education  to  the  people  with  a  de- 
cided tendency  towards  moral  and  religious  reform. 

The  artistocratic  humanists  of  the  Renaissance  de- 
spised the  vernacular,  and  used  as  much  as  possible 
the  Latin  language.  The  religious  democrats  of  the 
awakened  masses  preferred  the  vernacular,  as  the  only 
language  fit  for  the  education  of  the  people.  This 
twofold  movement  produced  a  twofold  literature — 
one  in  Latin,  and  the  other  in  the  vernacular.  Both 
showed  a  prevailing  preference  for  dramatic  poetry: 
the  Renaissance  producing  a  great  number  of  Latin 
dramas,  written  for  the  most  part  by  the  heads  of  the 
Latin  schools  for  the  use  of  their  students ;  the  Democ- 
racy, with  its  numerous  guilds  or  chambers  of 
Rhetoric,  producing  an  innumerable  number  of 
morality  plays,  destined  to  be  shown  in  the  streets,  and 
on  the  market  places  of  the  cities,  especially  in  the 
"land-jewels,"  the  great  festivities  for  the  masses  dur- 
ing the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries. 

Now,  there  was  no  country  where  both  the  Re- 
naissance and  the  Reformation  became  as  strong  as  in 
the  Netherlands.  The  community  of  the  Brethren  of 
Common  Life,  founded  by  Gerard  Grote  at  Deventer, 
produced  not  only  men  like  Wessel  Gansfort,  Ru- 
dolphus  Agricola  and  Erasmus,  as  so  many  leaders 
of  the  Renaissance,  but  as  well  a  Thomas  a  Kempis, 
who,  with  his  Imitation  of  Christ,  laid  the  mystic 
foundation  of  the  Reformation  in  the  awakening  of 
personal  religious  devotion.  In  this  beautiful  com- 
munity, with  its  pupils  soon  spread  all  over  the  Neth- 
erlands, we  see  both  the  movements  of  Renaissance  and 
Reformation  still  united  in  perfect  harmony,  and  we 


208  GEORGE   GASCOIGNE 

hardly  know  which  to  admire  more  in  these  broad 
minded  and  plainly  living  men,  their  classic  learning 
or  their  religious  devotion.  But  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  democracy  on  one  hand,  and  the  conservatism 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  on  the  other,  brought 
about  an  antithesis  between  aristocracy  and  democ- 
racy, and  made  it  soon  impossible  to  keep  those  two 
movements  of  Renaissance  and  Reformation  together. 
The  poets  of  the  Latin  school  dramas  were  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  authors  of  the  popular  morality-plays, 
although  both  were  more  numerous  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries than  anywhere  else.  In  every  city  were  found 
the  Guilds  of  Rhetoric,  producing  their  morality- 
plays  in  the  Dutch  vernacular;  as  well  as  Latin 
schools,  where  the  Latin  plays  of  Terentius,  Seneca 
and  Plautus  soon  proved  to  be  too  few  in  number  as 
well  as  too  heathen  and  immoral  in  their  tendency. 
Consequently,  new  Latin  dramas,  in  their  literary  form 
as  polite  as  Terentius  and  Seneca,  but  in  their  sub- 
jects and  tendency  more  Christian,  were  asked  for. 
Biblical  themes,  as  that  of  the  Prodigal  son,  so  often 
treated  in  the  popular  plays,  were  now  taken  up  by 
the  principals  of  the  Latin  schools  for  their  new  Latin 
dramas,  and  the  tendency  arose  to  give  to  the  students 
a  Christianized  Terentius.  Very  numerous  are  the 
poets  of  those  Latin  school  dramas  in  the  Nether- 
lands.1 Two  of  the  most  prominent  among  them 
were  Guilielmus  Gnapheus  and  Georgius  Macrope- 
dius,  and  these  two  men  bring  us  into  immediate  con- 
tact with  Gascoigne  as  the  author  of  "The  Glasse  of 
Government." 

Georgius  Macropedius,  whose  Dutch  name  was 
Georg  van  Langveldt,  was  born  in  the  year  1475  in 

1  See  J.  te  Winkel,  De  ontu'ikkelingsgang  der  Nederlandschi 
letterkunde,  I,  p.  274-278,  and  G.  Kalff,  Geschiedenis  der  Neder- 
landsche  letterkunde,  III,  p.  94-107. 


GEORGE   GASCOIGNE  209 

the  neighborhood  of  the  castle  Langveldt,  at  the  little 
village  of  Gemert,  near  Bois  le  due.  He  got  his  edu- 
cation among  the  Brethren  of  Common  Life,  and  his 
portrait  shows  him  in  their  plain  dress  of  the  monas- 
teries of  that  time.  Probably  he  studied  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Louvain,  and  after  that  he  became  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  school  of  the  Brethren  of  Common  Life 
at  Bois  le  due.  Later  we  find  him  as  rector  or  prin- 
cipal of  the  Latin  school  at  Utrecht,  where  he  stayed 
from  1535  till  1554.  At  last  he  returned  to  Bois  le 
due  for  his  health,  and  there  he  died  in  July,  1558. 
He  left  us  twelve  Latin  dramas,  published  during  his 
lifetime,  in  1553,  in  one  volume,  viz.,  Asotus,  Lazarus, 
Joseph,  Jesus  Scholasticus,  Adamus,  Hypomene, 
Hecastus,  Rebelles,  Aluta,  Petriscus,  Andrisca  and 
Bassarus.1  In  the  "Rebelles"  he  especially  treats  the 
theme  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  in  the  same  way  that  later 
Gascoigne  did  in  his  Glasse  of  Government. 

Guilielmus  Gnapheus,  whose  Dutch  name  was 
Willem  de  Voider,  was  born  in  the  year  1493,  at  the 
Hague,  and  was  therefore  sometimes  called  Hagien- 
sis.  Later  he  translated  his  name  into  Greek  and  into 
Latin,  and  called  himself  Gnapheus,  or  sometimes 
Fullonius.  Probably  educated  by  the  Brethren  of 
Common  Life,  he  got  his  B.  A.  at  the  University  of 
Cologne,  and  after  that  he  settled  as  a  teacher  at  the 
Hague.  But  pretty  soon  he  came  under  the  sus- 
picion of  being  a  Lutheran,  and  was  put  into  the 
prison  of  the  Inquisition  at  Delft  immediately  after 
the  Inquisition  was  introduced  in  the  Netherlands. 
He  was,  however,  set  free  by  the  influence  of  the 
States  of  Holland.  After  having  been  imprisoned 
again  in  1525  as  being  the  author  of  a  pamphlet 


1  See  Lateinische  Literatur  denkmaler  des  XV  und  XVI  Jahr- 
hunderts  no  13.  Georgius  Macropedius'  Rebelles  und  Aluta  heraus- 
gegeben  von  Johannes  Bolte,  Berlin,  Weidmannsche  Buchhandlung,  1897. 

14 


210  GEORGE    GASCOIGNE 

against  monastic  life,  he  fled  in  1528  from  persecu- 
tion, at  first  to  Elbing  in  Germany,  where,  in  1535,  he 
became  rector  of  the  Latin  school.  In  1541  we  find 
him  at  Konigsberg  as  counsel  of  the  Duke  Albrecht, 
and  as  rector  of  the  newly  founded  University.  The 
Lutherans,  however,  accused  him  of  being  a  Calvin- 
ist,  and  therefore  he  went  to  Embden  in  East  Fries- 
land,  in  the  year  1547,  where  he,  on  the  recommenda- 
tion of  the  Reformer  Johannes  a  Lasco,  became  the 
secretary  of  the  Countess  Anna,  and  the  tutor  of  her 
children.  He  died  on  the  2Qth  of  September,  1568,  at 
Norden  in  East  Friesland.  He  wrote  several  Latin 
plays,  as  Triumphus  Eloquentiae,  Morosophus,  and 
Hypocrisis.  But  the  most  important  one  by  far  is  his 
Acolastus,  written  for  the  students  of  the  Latin  school 
at  the  Hague,  in  which  he  treated  the  same  subject, 
and  in  the  same  way  as  later  Gascoigne  in  his  Glasse 
of  Government.^ 

The  Acolastus  of  Gnapheus  is  considered  as  the 
source  of  Gascoigne's  Glasse  of  Government.  Prob- 
ably the  Rebelles  of  Macropedius  may  have  been  a 
second  source.  And  then  there  is  still  a  third  Latin 
drama  on  the  same  theme,  written  by  a  man  called 
Stymmelius,  a  play  which  Gascoigne  might  have 
known,  and  which  is  entitled  "Studentes,"  but  this  is 
"a  direct  imitation  of  the  Acolastus"2  of  Gnapheus, 
and  is  much  inferior  not  only  to  Acolastus  but  to 
Rebelles.5 

The  Acolastus  of  Grapheus  won  a  European  fame. 
Bolte  mentions  forty-eight  editions,  which  appeared 
in  the  centers  of  learning  in  Europe  before  the  year 

1  See    Lateinische    Litteratur    denkmaler    des    XV    \md    XVI    Jahr- 
hunderts.      Guilielmus   Gnaphens,  Acolastus.     Herausgegeben  von  Johan- 
nes  Bolte,    Berlin,   Weidmannsche   Buchhandlung,    1891. 

2  Charles  H.   Herford.     Studies  in  the  literary  relations  of  England 
and   Germany    in    the   sixteenth   century.      Cambridge,    1886,    p.    155. 

3  Ibid.,    p.    156. 


GEORGE   GASCOIGNE  211 

1587,  the  first  edition  being  that  at  Antwerp  in  the 
year  1529.  It  was  translated  into  French,  German 
and  English.  The  English  edition  is  from  the  year 
1540  by  a  school  teacher  at  London  called  Johannes 
Palsgrave,  and  is  dedicated  to  King  Henry  VIII,  so 
that  it  is  nearly  impossible  that  Gascoigne  should  not 
have  known  the  work,  even  if  he  never  had  been  in 
the  Netherlands.  The  question  whether  Gascoigne 
wrote  his  Glasse  of  Government  in  1565, 'before  he 
came  to  the  Netherlands,  or  in  1575,  after  he  returned 
to  England,  is  therefore  of  very  little  importance. 

Herford,  in  his  Studies,  makes  an  elaborate  com- 
parison between  Gascoigne's  Glasse  of  Government 
and  the  Acolastus  of  Gnapheus,  with  Macropedius' 
Rebelles  and  the  Studentes  of  Stymmelius,  showing 
that  in  all  the  main  points,  the  subject  is  treated  in 
the  same  way,  so  that  every  thought  of  their  being 
independent  of  each  other  is  excluded1  "Distinct 
copy,"  says  Herford,  "is  Gascoigne's  Glasse  of  Gov- 
ernment not;  it  is  written  throughout  with  a  differ- 
ent bias ;  it  is  the  work  of  a  Calvinist,  not  of  a  Cath- 
olic or  of  a  Lutheran ;  it  is  in  the  vernacular,  not  in 
Latin ;  in  prose,  not  in  verse.  For  all  that,  however, 
it  assuredly  belongs  to  the  same  dramatic  cycle;  it  is 
the  attempt,  that  is,  to  connect  Terentian  situations 
with  a  Christian  moral  in  a  picture  of  school  life."2 

The  interesting  part  about  Gascoigne  is  that  in  his 
broadminded  conception  the  two  lines  of  Renaissance 
and  Reformation  seem  to  meet  each  other,  and  to 
unite  as  in  the  works  of  the  great  Reformers,  avoid- 
ing the  one  sidedness  of  the  Humanists  in  their  ex- 
clusive admiration  of  classical  form,  as  well  as  that 

1  Ibid.,    p.    162-164. 

2  Ibid.,   p.    160.     A  review  of  the  contents  of  the  Acolastus,  as  well 
as    of    Gascoigne's    Glasse   of   Government,    is    given    by    Herford  and  in 
the  Cambridge   History   of  English   Literature,   V.    127. 


212  GEORGE    GASCOIGNE 

of  the  Protestant  people,  where  they,  in  their  zeal  for 
religious  reform,  neglected  too  much  the  value  of  lit- 
erary beauty. 

Besides  the  works  of  Gascoigne  we  find  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Latin  dramas  in  different  works  of  Eng- 
lish literature.  "A  reminiscence  of  the  Acolastus  of 
Gnapheus,"  says  Herford,  "is  doubtless  also  to  be 
found  in  5\  Nicholson's  Acolastus,  His  After-wit, 
where  Eubulus,  the  ancient  friend  and  good  counsel- 
lor, corresponds  to  the  Prodigal's  father  of  the  same 
name  in  Gnapheus;  while  Acolastus  himself  is  dis- 
tinctly assimilated  to  the  Prodigal."1 

Finally,  Johannes  Bolte,  in  his  edition  of  Macro- 
pedius'  Rebelles  and  Aluta,  mentions  one  of  the  bal- 
lads of  the  Scottish  priest,  Alexander  Geldes  (1737- 
1802),  to  be  found  in  R.  Chambers,  The  Scottish 
Songs,  II,  316,  and  in  A.  Whitelaw,  The  Book  of 
Scottish  Songs,  p.  76,  as  showing  the  most  close  con- 
nection with  the  Aluta  of  Macropedius.2 


1  Herford,   p.    159,   note. 

2  J.    Bolte,   Macropedius  Rebelles  und  Aluta,   Einleitung,  p.   XXIII. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THOMAS  CHURCHYARD  (1520-1604) — THE  "NESTOR 
OF  ELIZABETHAN  HEROES"  AS  A  SOLDIER  AND  POET 
IN  THE  NETHERLANDS. 

Thomas  Churchyard  (1520-1604),  although  not  a 
genius  as  powerful  as  Gascoigne,  and  not  to  be  com- 
pared with  Spenser  and  Shakespeare,  yet  "honestly 
is  ranked  by  a  competent  judge  among  the  great  poets 
of  his  age;  among  such  poets,  as  have  not  often  been 
equalled  and  will  not  soon  be  surpassed ;"  a  poet  "who 
may  run  abreast  with  any  of  that  age  writing  in  the 
beginning  of  Elizabeth's  reign."1  "For  his  period  a 
smooth  and  accomplished  versifier,  who  had  taken  to 
heart  the  lessons  taught  by  Wyatt  and  Surrey,  and 
who  did  his  share  of  work  of  restoring  form  and  order 
to  English  poetry."2  Both  in  his  life  and  in  his  works 
he  stands  in  close  contact  with  the  Netherlands. 

His  life  is  divided  into  three  periods:  The  first 
period  is  from  his  birth  in  1520,  at  Shrewsbury,  till  the 
year  1542,  when  he  left  his  native  country  to  serve 
as  a  soldier  on  the  Continent.  About  this  period  we 
know  that  he  studied  at  Oxford;  that,  at  the  age  of 
17,  he  "besought  his  father  to  let  him  depart  from 
home,  to  seek  his  hap  amidst  the  many  competitions 
of  life ;"  that  he  went  to  court,  wasted  his  money,  and 
found  service  with  Henry  Howard,  the  Earl  of  Sur- 
rey, during  the  four  years  from  1537  to  1541.  The 
Earl  of  Surrey,  the  same  nobleman  in  whose  home 
Hadrianus  Junius  lived  as  a  tutor  during  some  years 
just  after  Churchyard  left,  is  always  remembered  by 
Churchyard  with  gratefulness  and  praise. 

1  George    Chalmers,    Churchyard's   Chips   concerning   Scotland,   with 
historical    notes,   and   a   life   of  the   author,   London,    1817.     This  little . 
book,  although  under  so  modest  a  title,  gives  by  far  the  best  biography  / 
of  Churchyard  ever  published  till  our   present   day. 

2  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature,  III,  p.  205. 

213 


214  THOMAS  CHURCHYARD 

The  second  period  (1542-1572)  contains  the  thirty 
years  in  which  Churchyard  served  as  a  soldier  in  the 
Netherlands,  in  Ireland  and  in  Scotland,  writing  at  the 
same  time  a  great  number  of  his  works  in  verse  and  in 
prose.  This  period,  from  his  twenty-second  till  his 
fifty-second  year,  is  the  deciding  one  of  his  life  and  has 
made  him  forever  the  poet-soldier  in  English  literature. 
The  third  period  (1572-1604)  of  Churchyard's 
life,  contains  the  thirty  years  of  life's  decline,  during 
which  he  often  "assisted  in  amusing  the  queen"  Eliz- 
abeth by  his  poems,  and  out  of  all  the  richness  of  his 
experiences  produced  a  great  number  of  poems  and 
prose  works,  reflecting  all  the  knowledge  and  the  wis- 
dom, all  the  thrilling  stories,  dangers  and  braveries 
of  his  eventful  life. 

During  the  second  period  of  his  life,  we  find 
Churchyard  in  the  Netherlands  successively  in  seven 
different  campaigns: 

(i)  In  the  years  1542-1544  he  fought  in  the  army 
of  the  Emperor,  Charles  V,  who,  in  alliance  with  the 
King  of  England,  Henry  VIII,  made  war  against 
Francis  I  of  France.  After  the  peace  of  Crespy,  in 
1544,  Churchyard  returned  to  England, 
"Aweary  of  those  wasting  woes, 

Awhile  he  left  the  war, 
And  for  desire  to  learn  the  tongues 

He  travelled  very  far, 
And  had  of  every  language  part 
When  homeward  did  he  draw, 
And  could  rehearsal  make  full  well 
Of  that  abroad  he  saw." 

But  this  was  only  the  first  campaign,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity to  see  many  things  and  to  make  rehearsal  was 
to  be  offered  to  him  still  many  times. 

.(2)  In  the  years  I552-T555,  after  Churchyard  had 
wooed  the  widow  Browning,  who  gave  him  a  plain 


THOMAS  CHURCHYARD  215 

refusal,  he  again  "found  solace  in  war,  with  its  perils, 
its  varieties  and  its  pleasures."  He  served  again  in 
the  army  of  Charles  V  against  Francis  I  during  three 
years.  It  was  during  this  war  that  Churchyard 
"sailed  down  the  pleasant  flood  of  .Rhine"  and  served 
in  Flanders,  the  richest  of  all  the  countries  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Emperor.  From  the  Netherlands  and 
especially  from  Flanders,  Charles  V  got  two-fifths  of 
all  his  income.  But  soon  it  became  the  scene  of  mur- 
der and  devastation,  of  which  Churchyard  was 
destined  to  be  an  eye-witness. 

(3)  During  the  years  1557-1559,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Philip   II  over  Spain  and  over  the 
Netherlands,  Churchyard  was  again  at  the  wars  when 
Queen  Mary  of  England   (1553-1558),  whom  Philip 
had  married,  made  war  against  France.    During  that 
campaign  Calais  was  taken  by  the  French  army  under 
Guise  in  1558,  and  after  the  conquest  of  Calais,  imme- 
diately the  city  of  Guisnes  was  besieged.    Churchyard 
was  one  of  the  defenders,  and-  he  was  an  intermediary 
in  offering  the  surrender  of  this  city. 

(4)  In   the    year    1566,    during   the   outbreak   of 
image-breaking  in  Antwerp,   Churchyard  was  there, 
being    an    eye-witness    of    that    tremendous    tumult. 
There  he  offered  his  services  to  the  Prince  of  Orange ; 
the  Prince 

"Bad  me  do  well,  and  shed  no  guiltless  blood; 
And  save  from  spoil  poor  people  and  their  good." 

B'eing  in  the  service  of  the  Prince,  and  probably  agree- 
ing with  his  policy,  we  can  understand  what  Church- 
yard says,  that  in  the  eyes  of  the  tumultuous  popula- 
tion he  was  too  moderate.  "The  Prince  retired  from 
this  scene  of  tumult.  The  insurgents,  amounting  to 
30,000,  placed  Churchyard  at  their  head ;  the  nobles 
having  fled,  he  saved  the  religious  houses  and  the 


216  THOMAS   CHURCHYARD 

town  from  cruel  sword  and  fire.  But  such  a  multi- 
tude he  could  not  manage  long,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  abscond,  and  to  make  his  escape  in  priest's  attire, 
but  not  with  shaven  crown.  He  found  his  way 
through  many  hazards,  into  Sealand,  followed  by  the 
marshall,  but,  getting  into  a  ship,  at  the  Sluis,  not- 
withstanding that  officer's  searches,  he  arrived  safe  in 
England,  at  the  end  of  I566."1 

(5)  In  the  years  1567-1568.  The  troubles  at-  Ant- 
werp had  not  at  all  deterred  Churchyard.  On  the 
contrary  it  seems  that  his  first  contact  with  the  Prince 
of  Orange  had  inspired  him  to  devote  himself  to  the 
sacred  cause  of  liberty.  In  the  very  first  campaign  of 
the  Prince  of  Orange,  in  the  war  of  independence, 
Churchyard  was  with  the  Prince.  Chalmers  tells  the 
story  as  follows:  "At  the  beginning  of  1567,  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  encouraged  by  the  princes  of  Ger- 
many, began  to  collect  troops  at  his  own  domain  of 
Dillenburgh,  about  ten  leagues  from  Cologne. 
Thither  was  Churchyard  sent,  by  the  Earl  of  Oxford, 
lord  high  chamberlain  of  England,  as  an  agent,  no 
doubt,  to  see,  and  to  report,  what  passed  at  the  com- 
mencement of  a  war,  which  was  attended  by  mem- 
orable consequences.  He  was  obliged  to  go  by  the 
way  of  Paris,  where  he  was  kindly  assisted  by  lord 
Norris,  the  English  ambassador.  Churchyard  arrived 
at  Dillenburgh  in  time  to  see  the  meeting  of  that  great 
assembly  of  warriors  who  were  to  contest  with  .so 
great  a  general  as  the  duke  of  Alva,  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Law  Countries.  Churchyard  served 
under  Count  de  la  March  as  cornet-bearer  to  250 
light  horsemen,  during  the  first  campaign  of  this  sig- 
nal war.  The  Prince  of  Orange  mustered  his  army 
of  22,000  foot  and  13,000  horse,  beyond  the  Rhine  at 
Anderwike.  The  Prince  marched  forward  toward 

1  Chalmers,   p.   20. 


THOMAS  CHURCHYARD  217 

Aix,  Sentre  and  Tongre;  but,  when  he  approached 
to  Flanders,  he  was  everywhere  "bearded"  by  the 
Duke  of  Alva,  with  30,000  shot  and  4,000  horsemen. 
The  Prince  had  thus  a  hard  antagonist  to  contend 
with,  for  the  prize  of  skill,  experience  and  circum- 
spection. These  two  great  commanders  avoided  a 
general  action ;  knowing  how  much  they  risked  and 
might  lose.  After  many  sharp  encounters,  the  Prince, 
perceiving  that  he  could  make  no  impression  upon 
such  a  general  as  Alva,  drew  off  his  army  from  Flan- 
ders into  France,  near  Guise  and  St.  Quinten;  and 
afterwards  marched  into  winter  quarters  about  Stras- 
bourgh.  It  was  on  this  march  that  Churchyard  took 
his  leave  and  departed  for  England.  From  the  ac- 
count which  he  afterwards  published  of  the  late  cam- 
paign, we  may  easily  suppose  what  report  he  made  to 
the  lord  great  chamberlain,  his  employer." 

"Churchyard  now  felt  for  the  Flemings ;  wished 
success  to  the  Prince  of  Orange;  and  entertained  a 
strong  desire  to  see  the  event  of  the  subsequent  cam- 
paign of  1568.  Whether  he  was  again  sent  by  the 
lord  great  chamberlain,  he  does  not  say,  though  it 
may  be  inferred  from  subsequent  events  that  he  was ; 
but  he  is  studious  to  tell  what  risks  he  ran  and  dan- 
gers he  endured  in  traveling  through  France  to  the 
Rhine  during  an  age  of  warfare  and  demoralization. 
After  escaping  many  hazards  he  at  length  joined  the 
Prince  of  Orange  at  his  house  of  Dillenbourgh.  By 
the  Prince's  people,  Churchyard  was  now  made  wel- 
come with  many  a  mad  carouse.  At  the  opening  of 
the  campaign,  1568,  towards  Flanders  they  marched; 
but  for  want  of  monjey  the  Prince's  «army  lay  for  some 
months  near  the  Rhine  and  at  some  distance  from 
such  an  enemy.  Whatever  may  have  been  given  out, 
the  Prince  was  too  penetrating  not  to  perceive  the 


218  THOMAS  CHURCHYARD 

superiority  of  his  opponent  in  great  talents,  in  a  dis- 
ciplined army  and  the  compactness  of  his  force.  Mean- 
time, the  governor  of  the  Netherlands  published  an 
act  of  tolerance  for  the  Protestants,  which  enfeebled 
the  Prince's  arms.  Owing  to  all  those  causes  the  cam- 
paign of  1568  passed  away,  in  demonstration  rather 
than  in  efforts.  Churchyard  found  in  his  privations 
that  his  own  share  of  sufferings  was  not  the  severest 
of  the  patriot  soldiers.  When  the  Prince  of  Orange 
retired  from  Flanders  and  passed  into  France,  our  ad- 
venturer asked  his  permission  to  visit  his  native  soil. 
The  Prince  assented  but  warned  him  that  the  French 
by  some  artifice  would  arrest  his  journey.  The  duke 
of  Alva  commanded  every  Englishman  to  be  detained 
as  so  many  pledges  for  the  Spanish  treasure  that  had 
been  stopped  in  England.  We  may  thus  see  that 
Churchyard  ran  a  double  risk  of  being  detained  either 
in  Flanders  or  in  France.  Riding  along  the  limits  of 
the  two  countries,  and  pointing  to  the  nearest  port, 
he  was  betrayed  by  a  peasant  into  the  hands  of  ban- 
ditti, who  robbed  him  of  his  horse  and  his  equipments, 
and  from  whom  he  escaped  by  a  sort  of  miracle.  These 
disasters  happened  near  St.  Quinten.  And  he  was 
now  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  trudging  on  foot 
sixty  miles  through  an  unfriendly  people;  while  he 
was  hardly  treated  by  the  captain  of  Peronne  as  he 
pressed  forward  to  Abbeville.  He  at  length  found  a 
vessel  which  was  bound  to  Guernsey,  where  he  was 
well  received  by  Captain  Leighton,  the  governor.  Yet, 
in  this  hospitable  isle  he  remained  not  longer  than  his 
refreshment  required.  And  he  arrived  at  last,  after 
so  many  disasters,  on  his  native  soil  at  the  beginning 
of  1569,  a  year  of  disturbance  and  rebellion/'1 

(6)  During  the  years  1569-1570  we  find  Church- 


1  Chalmers,    p.    20-24. 


THOMAS  CHURCHYARD  219 

yard  fighting  among  the  Sea-Beggars,  those  desperate 
heroes  who  had  lost  everything,  who  had  seen  their 
fathers  and  their  mothers,  their  brothers  and  sisters, 
murdered  by  the  Inquisition  or  by  the  Spanish  sol- 
diers, and  who,  in  their  utmost  despair,  at  last  fought 
their  battle  to  the  knife  and  gained  the  first  victories 
in  the  great  struggle.  Their  victories  really  began 
with  the  capture  of  Den  Briel  on  the  first  of  April, 
1572.  Before  that  date  they  tried  several  times  to 
conquer  one  or  the  other  city,  but  in  vain.  And  dur- 
ing that  first  time  of  misfortune  Churchyard  was  with 
them.  With  several  other  English  stipendaries  under 
their  captain  Morgan,  we  find  him  at  the  siege  of  Ter 
Goes,  in  1569,  but  without  success.  The  siege  was 
raised  by  the  persevering  fortitude  of  the  Spanish  sol- 
diers, with  the  loss  of  200  English  and  French  troops 
who  were  either  slain  or  taken.  After"  performing1 
great  service  sundry  times  during  half  a  year,  Church- 
yard was  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  This  hap- 
pened in  1570.  Churchyard  seems  to  have  been  now 
recognized  as  the  soldier  who  had  mingled  in  the  late 
tumult  at  Antwerp ;  who  had  then  only  escaped  death 
for  his  misdeeds  to  return  again  and  again  into  a  dis- 
tracted country ;  he  was  now  imprisoned  as  a  spy ; 
and  was  even  condemned  to  lose  his  head  by  martial 
law.  The  day  which  was  appointed  for  his  execution 
had  even  arrived,  "when  a  noble  dame  his  respite 
craved  and  spoke  for  him  so  fair  that  the  marshal  of 
the  camp  listened  to  her  speech ;  and  he  was  pardoned 
and  again  allowed  to  return  home  with  money  in  his 
purse."1 

(7)  Two  years  later,  in  1572,  once  more  we  find 
Churchyard  fighting  with  the  sons  of  liberty  in  the 
Netherlands,  viz.,  as  one  of  the  defenders  of  the  city 
of  Zutphen,  which  city  in  the  beginning  of  1572  had 

1  Chalmers,  p.  27. 


220  THOMAS   CHURCHYARD 

chosen  the  side  of  the  Prince,  and  was  now  be- 
leaguered by  the  Spaniards.  "Neither  the  experiences 
nor  the  hair-breadth  escapes  of  Churchyard  could  re- 
strain him  from  mingling  in  the  hostilities  of  the 
Netherlands,  while  Protestantism  continued  to  be  per- 
secuted. He  again  seems  to  Iiave  joined  with  the 
English  volunteers,  who  defended  Zutphen  for  the 
States,  which  was  taken,  however,  by  the  son  of  Alva 
in  November,  I572."1  At  Zutphen,  near  the  spot 
where  Philip  Sydney,  several  years  later,  lost  his  life 
fighting  against  the  same  enemy,  it  was  that  for  the 
last  time  Churchyard  drew  his  sword  for  the  great 
cause  of  liberty.  Now  he  "hung  up  his  corslet  like 
the  soldier  tired  of  war's  alarm."2 

Four  years  later,  in  1576,  we  find  Churchyard 
again,  and,  as  far  as  we  know,  for  the  last  time  in 
the  Netherlands.  "The  Netherlands,"  says  Chalmers, 
"had  been  so  much  the  adventurous  scenes  of  Church- 
yard's younger  life,  that  he  could  not,  in  his  latter 
days,  refrain  from  visiting  those  celebrated  countries, 
for  commerce,  for  wars,  for  policy.  He  certainly  went 
to  Brussels  in  the  autumn  of  1576,  but  whether  he 
was  sent  thither  by  some  great  man  or  went  in  obedi- 
ence of  -his  own  desire  to  contemplate  the  passing 
scene,  appears  not.  At  Brussels  he  saw  a  meeting  of 
many  ambassadors  to  concert  a  pacification  for  those 
wretched  countries.  He  saw  the  rejoicing  for  their 
peace  restored.  He  perhaps  remained  long  enough 
to  witness  the  breach  of  that  treaty  by  the  habitual 
treachery  of  don  John,  the  bastard  of  Austria."3 

Such  were  the  connections  of  Thomas  Churchyard 
with  the  Netherlands  during  the  thirty  best  years  of 
his  life.  Was  it  possible  that  a  man  who,  in  his  many 
works  in  verse  and  in  prose,  wrote  down  nearly  every 

1  Chalmers,  p.  27. 

2  Ibid. 

3  Chalmers,  p.  31 


THOMAS  CHURCHYARD  221 

story,  every  feature,  every  experience  of  his  life, 
should  not  have  felt  as  a  poet  the  influence  of  such 
immensely  interesting  campaigns,  and  events,  of 
which  he  had  been  an  eye-witness,  as  for  instance,  the 
image-breaking  at  Antwerp  in  1566,  the  first  cam- 
paign of  William  of  Orange  in  1567  and  1568,  the 
first  endeavors  of  the  Sea-Beggars  in  1569,  the  de- 
fense of  Zutphen  in  1572,  and  at  last  the  festivities 
with  Don  Juan  at  Brussels  in  1576?  No,  that  was 
impossible.  On  the  contrary,  several  of  his  works  are 
just  the  result  of  his  experiences  in  the  Netherlands, 
as  even  their  titles  may  show,  and  many  a  poem  prob- 
ably has  been  inspired  by  what  Churchyard  saw  dur- 
ing those  adventurous  years. 

The  following  works  of  Churchyard  are  the  imme- 
diate result  of  his  experiences  in  the  Netherlands: 

(1)  A  lamentable  and  pitifull  Description  of  the 
wofull  Warres  in  Flaunders,  since  the  foure  last  years 
of  the  Emperor  Charles  the  fifth  his  raigne.     With  a 
briefe  rehearsall  of  many  things  done  since  that  sea- 
son, untill  this  present  yeare  and  death  of  Don  John. 
Written    by    Thomas    Churchyard    Gentleman.     Im- 
printed at  London  by  Ralph  Newberrie,  Anno  1578. 

This  work  was  dedicated  to  Sir  Francis  Walsing- 
ham,  and  in  his  dedication,  the  author  informs  us  that 
this  brief  discourse  on  the  troubles  and  afflictions  of 
Flanders  was  not  gathered  out  of  other  men's  gar- 
dens, but  derived  entirely  from  his  own  knowledge 
and  experience."  See  Thomas  Corser.  Collectanea 
Anglo-Poetica.  Part  IV,  p.  364-366. 

(2)  Churchyard's  Choise.     London,   1579. 

The  contents  of  this  work,  as  given  by  Chalmers, 
p.  56,  are  in  ten  parts,  of  which  No.  I  is  entitled,  A 
general  Rehearsell  of  Warres  in  the  Netherlands,  in 
Scotland,  in  Ireland  and  at  Sea,  which  comprehends 


222  THOMAS   CHURCHYARD 

one  half  of  the  volume;  and  No.  4  entitled,  "A  small 
Rehearsell  of  some  special  Services  in  Flaunders  of 
late  part  whereof  were  in  the  tyme  of  Don  Jhon's 
government  and  the  rest  beying  doen  in  the  present 
service  of  the  Prince  of  Parma,  now  governour  of 
Flaunders." 

(3)  A   true    Report    of   a    dangerous    Service    at- 
tempted and  brought  to  pass  by  Englishmen,  Scots- 
men, and  Walloons  for  the  taking  of  Machlin  in  Flan- 
ders.   Dedicated  to  Lord  Norrice,  London,  1580. 

(4)  The  right  pleasant  and  variable  tragical  His- 
tory of  Fortunatus :  first  penned  in  the  Dutch  tongue, 
hence  abstracted  and  now  first  of  all  published  in  Eng- 
lish by  T.  C.  London,  1682 — "but  certainly  printed  be- 
fore   1600"    says   Chalmers,   p.    59,   quoting   Ritson's 
Bibl.,   169. 

W.  C.  Hazlitt,  in  his  Hand-Book,  also  gives  this 
as  the  work  of  Churchyard,  without  mentioning  that 
it  was  translated  from  the  Dutch. 

Charles  H.  Herford,  in  his  Studies  in  the  literary 
relations  between  England  and  Germany,  tells  some- 
thing about  the  history  of  Fortunatus  as  a  story  spread 
over  several  countries  of  Europe,  but  does  not  men- 
tion Churchyard's  translation  from  the  Dutch.  If 
Herford  had  known  this  work,  it  might  have  changed 
some  of  his  ideas  about  the  way  the  story  of  Fortu- 
natus came  into  English  literature.  Herford,  p.  203- 
219  and  405. 

(5)  "A  true  Discourse  historical  of  the  succeed- 
ing Governors  in  the  Netherlands  and  the  Civil  Wars 
there  begun  in  the  yeare  1565  with  the  memorable 
services  of  our  Honourable  English  Generals,  Cap- 
taines  and  Souldiers,  especially  under  Sir  John  Nor- 
rice Knight  there  performed  from  the  yeare  1577  until 
the  yeare  1589,  and  afterwards  in  Portugale,  France, 


THOMAS  CHURCHYARD  223 

Britaine  and  Ireland  until  the  year  1598.  Translated 
and  collected  by  T.  C.  Esquire  and  Ric:  Ro.  out  of 
the  Reverend  E.  M.  of  Antwerp  his  fifteen  books 
Historiae  Belgicae  and  other  collections  added,  alto- 
gether manifesting  all  martiall  actions  meete  for  every 
good  subject  to  reade,  for  defence  of  Prince  and 
Country.  London,  1602." 

The  main  source  for  this  work  of  Churchyard,  the 
Reverend  E.  M.,  of  Antwerp,  is  the  well-known  Dutch 
historian,  Emmanuel  van  Meteren,  in  Latin,  Emman- 
uel Meteranus.  See  Corser's  Collectanea  IV,  385-390, 
where  the  author  gives  an  extensive  review  of  this 
interesting  work  of  Churchyard. 

Churchyard  himself  mentions  still  another  book, 
"in  which  was  the  whole  service  of  my  L.  of  Lester 
mentioned,  that  he  and  his  train  did  in  Flanders." 
See  Chalmers,  p.  64. 

How  many  poems  and  stones  told  in  the  numer- 
ous works  of  Churchyard  may  be  the  result  of  all  his 
experiences  in  the  Netherlands,  would  be  very  inter- 
esting to  know,  and  here  is  an  almost  unexplored  field, 
left  for  the  research  of  some  scholar,  for  instance,  for 
a  doctoral  thesis.  How  many  tales  Churchyard  may 
have  told  at  the  court  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  in  the 
literary  circles,  tales  brought  from  the  Netherlands, 
and  by  his  agency  introduced  into  the  center  of  liter- 
ary England,  we  can  hardly  imagine.1 

1  In  connection  with  Gascoigne  and  Churchyard,  I  may  add  here  a 
few  words  about  the  well-known  playwright,  Ben  Jonson  (1573-1637). 
From  the  way  De  Hoog  writes  about  Jonson  one  would  get  the  idea  that 
he  was  as  much  influenced  by  the  Netherlands  as  Gascoigne  and  Church- 
yard. But  so  far  as  I  haye  found  out,  the  influence  of  Holland  on  Jonson 
is  not  to  be  compared  with  that  on  Gascoigne  and  Churchyard.  Jonson 
in  his  youth  served  for  a  short  time  as  a  soldier  in  the  Netherlands,  and 
as  W.  Gifford  says  in  his  Biographical  Memoir  (Works  of  Jonson,  ed. 
1875,  Vol.  I,  p.  XXX),  this  happened  in  the  year  1591  at  Ostend,  which 
city  was  held  by  an  English  garrison.  It  seems  that  he  fought  there  a 
duel  with  good  success  for  him,  but  otherwise  he  "brought  little  from 
Flanders  but  the  reputation  of  a  brave  man,  a  smattering  of  Dutch  and 
an  empty  purse."  Any  influence  of  this  short  abode  in  the  Netherlands  on 
his  writings  seems  not  yet  to  have  been  discovered.  Nevertheless,  the 
possibility  remains  that  some  day  something  may  be  discovered  which  may 
be  worthy  to  be  mentioned  in  this  connection. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

SIR  JAN  VAN  DER  NOOT  AND  EDMUND  SPENSER 

(1)  THE  THEATRE  OF  WORLDLINGS 

(2)  ITS  AUTHOR 

(3)  SPENSER'S  CONNECTION  WITH  IT 

(4)  SPENSER  AND  VAN  DER  NOOT 

i.     The  Theater  of  Worldlings. 

In  the  year  1569  there  appeared  at  London  a  book 
entitled,  "A  Theatre  wherein  be  represented  as  well 
the  miseries  and  calamities  that  follow  the  voluptuous 
Worldlings,  as  also  the  greate  joyes  and  pleasures 
which  the  faithfull  do  enjoy.  An  argument  both  prof- 
itable and  delectable  to  all  that  sincerely  love  the  word 
of  God.  Devised  by  John  van  der  Noodt."1  "Scene 
and  allowed  according  to  the  order  appointed.  Im- 
printed at  London  by  Henry  Bynnerman.  Anno 
Domini  1569.  Cum  Privilegio."  This  book  is  dedi- 
cated to  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  dedication  is  dated 
May  25,  1569. 

The  contents  are  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first 
and  smaller  part  being  twenty-one  verses  of  about 
twelve  lines  each,  and  the  second  part  containing  an 
elaborate  explanation  of  107  pages  about  what  is  said 
in  the  verses. 

The  verses  are  called  "either  visions  or  epigrams, 
or  sonnets  or  emblems,  as  you  like  it" ;  the  first  six  of 
them  are  translated  from  the  Italian  poet,  Petrarch ; 
the  next  eleven  from  the  French  poet,  De  Bellay ;  and 
the  last  four  from  the  original  Dutch  verses  of  the 

1  A  copy  of  this  book  is  in  the  British  Museum. 

224 


SIR  JOHN   FAN  DER  NOOT  225 

author  himself.  Twenty  of  these  twenty-one  verses 
are  illustrated  with  woodcuts,  and  this  makes  the  book 
look  like  an  emblem  book — as  this  first  part  really  is. 

The  verses  from  Petrarch,  and  De  Bellay  are  in- 
tended, everyone  of  them,  to  give  an  example  of  the 
world's  vanity. 

In  those  from  Petrarch,  the  following  subjects  are 
treated : 

(i) — a  fair  hinde  suddenly  attacked  and  killed 
by  two  "egre  dogs" ; 

(2) — a  beautiful  tall  ship,  freighted  with  riche 
treasures,  in  one  moment  lost  and 
drowned  by  striking  a  rock ; 

(3) — a  "fresh  and  lusty  lawrell  tree"  struck  by  a 
sudden  flash  of  heaven's  fire ; 

(4) — a  spring  of  water  being  on  a  certain  mo- 
ment devoured  by  the  gaping  earth ; 

(5) — a  fine  bird,  a  Phoenix,  who  "himself  smote 
with  his  beake,"  as  in  disdain,  so  that  he 
died; 

(6) — a  fair  lady  suddenly  caught  by  the  heele  by 
a  stinging  serpent. 

In  those  from  De  Bellay  we  find  the  following  ex- 
amples of  the  world's  vanity : 

(i) — a  ghost  appearing  to  the  poet  on  the  great 
river's  bank  "that  runnes  by  Rome," 
telling  him  about  the  vanity  of  Rome 
and  "what  under  this  great  temple  is 
contained" ; 

(2) — a  building,  a  frame  on  a  hill  suddenly  de- 
stroyed by  an  earthquake; 

(3) — a  magnificent  monument  of  an  emperor 
destroyed  by  a  sudden  "tempest  from 
heaven  with  flash  striking  down  the  no- 
ble monument" ; 

(4) — a  "triumphal  arke,"  but  "let  me  no  more 
see  faire  things  under  heaven,  since  I 
saw  so  fair  a  thing  as  this  with  sudden 
falling  broken  all  to  dust" ; 

15 


226  SIR   JOHN    FAN  DER   NOOT 

(5) — a  fair  Dodonian  tree  upon  seven  hills, 
when  barbarous  villaines  outraged  the 
honor  of  these  noble  bowes ; 

(6) — a  bird  that  dares  behold  the  sun,  when 
suddenly  he  tumbles  down  from  the  air, 
"in  lompe  of  fire" ; 

(7) — a.  hideous  body,  big  and  strong,  the  Tro- 
jan hero,  founding  Rome,  in  his  right 
hand  the  tree  of  peace,  in  his  left  the 
conquering  palme ;  then  suddenly  the 
palm  and  olive  fell; 

(8) — a  wailing  nimphe,  tuning  her  plaint  to  fall- 
ing rivers  sound  at  Rome,  that  always 
again  produces  so  many  Neroes  and 
Caligulas  to  rule  this  croked  shore" ; 

(9) — a  kindled  flame  of  precious  ceder  tree, 
with  balmlike  oder  perfuming  the  air, 
when  suddenly  "dropping  of  a  golden 
shower  gan  quench  the  glystering  flame 
and  of  sulphur  now  did  breathe  cor- 
rupted smell" ; 

(10) — a  fresh  spring  and  hundred  nymphes,  who 
sat  by  side  "when  from  the  hills  a  naked 
rout  of  faunes  with  hideous  cry  assem- 
bled on  the  place  and  with  their  feet 
unclean  the  water  fouled,  threw  down 
the  seats  and  drove  the  nymphes  to 
flight"; 

(n) — the  great  Typhaeus'  sister,  raising  a 
trophee  over  all  the  world  and  hundred 
vanquished  kings  at  her  feet,  but  the 
heavens  war  against  her" ;  "I  saw  her 
stricken  fall  with  clap  of  thunder." 

After  all  these  examples  of  the  world's  vanity, 
interesting  in  their  variety,  beautifully  described,  but 
monotonous  in  representing  the  same  idea,  follow  the 
four  poems  of  the  author  himself.  They  form  the 
central  part  of  the  book,  they  show  us  that  all  the 
previous  examples  of  the  world's  vanity  serve  only 
as  an  introduction  to  the  solution  of  the  great  prob- 


SIR   JOHN    VAN  DER   NOOT  227 

lem  which  the  poet  has  in  his  mind.  They  give  the 
solution  of  the  great  problem  of  that  time ;  they  con- 
tain the  life  system  of  the  persecuted  Protestants  of 
Europe ;  they  touch  the  very  heart  of  the  thousands 
of  refugees,  who  fled  from  persecution ;  who  saw  their 
relatives  burned  at  the  stake ;  who  lost  everything 
except  life,  and  who  felt  the  world's  vanity  to  the 
extreme. 

It  was  at  the  time  when  the  Duke  of  Alva  was 
murdering  his  thousands  in  the  Netherlands,  when 
Lutherans  in  Germany,  Huguenots  in  France,  Puri- 
tans in  England,  during  several  years  had  suffered 
the  severest  persecution,  and  all  Protestantism  was 
in  danger  of  being  annihilated  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
world  power,  and  when  no  Protestant  was  safe  with 
his  life.  At  that  horrible  time  in  the  world's  history, 
Protestants  were  horror-stricken  by'  the  terrible  action 
of  Roman  Catholicism ;  they  saw  in  Rome,  the  Beast 
of  the  Apocalypse,  the  Anti-Christ,  and  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  the  "woman"  sitting  on  the  Beast," 
whose  delight  was  the  blood  of  the  martyrs.  Their 
prayer  was  day  and  night  to  God  in  Heaven  for 
relief,  and  the  solution  of  their  great  problem  was  in 
the  future  triumph  of  Christ;  their  consolation  was 
in  looking  upward  to  the  Holy  City,  the  new  Jeru- 
salem, where  there  shall  be  no  vanity  of  this  world, 
no  more  persecution  of  the  saints;  where  dwells  their 
Lord  and  their  God,  and  where  "all  their  tears  He 
shall  wipe  clean  away."  To  these  ideas,  to  this  very 
life-system  of  the  persecuted  Protestants,  the  author, 
who  himself  was  one  of  them,  gave  expression  in  his 
Theatre.  After  all  the  examples  of  Petrarch,  and 
De  Bellay,  showing  the  world's  vanity,  he  proceeds 
to  print  his  four  poems — (i)  on  the  Anti-Christ,  the 
Beast  of  the  Apocalypse;  (2)  on  the  Roman  Catholic 


228  SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER  NOOT 

Church,  the  woman  sitting  on  the  Beast;  (3)  on  the 
triumph  of  the  Christ,  the  faithful  man  sitting  on  a 
white  horse ;  and  (4)  on  the  Holy  City,  the  New  Jeru- 
salem in  Heaven.  Because  they  form  the  very  pith 
of  the  book,  I  give  them  here  in  full: 


"I  saw  an  ugly  beast  come  from  the  sea, 
That  seven  heads,  ten  crounes,  ten  homes  did  bear, 
Having  thereon  the  vile  blaspheming  name. 
The  cmell  leopard  she  resembled  much: 
Feete  of  a  beare,  a  lions  throte  she  had. 
The  mightie  Dragon  gave  to  hir  his  power. 
One  of  hir  heads  yet  there  I  did  espie, 
Still  freshly  bleeding  of  a  grievous  wounde. 
One  cride  aloude.    'What  one  is  like  (quod  he) 
This  honoured  Dragon,  or  may  him  withstande? 
And  then  came  from  the  sea  a  savage  beast, 
With  Dragons  speche,  and  shewde  his  force  by  fire, 
With  wondrous  signes  to  make  all  wights  adore 
The  beast,  in  setting  of  hir  image  up. 

II 

"I  saw  a  woman  sitting  on  a  beast 
Before  mine  eyes,  of  orenge  colour  hew: 
Horrour  and  dreadful!  name  of  blasphemie 
Filde  hir  with  pride.     And  seven  heads  I  saw; 
Ten  homes  also  the  stately  beast  did  beare. 
She  seemde  with  glorie  of  the  scarlet  faire, 
And  with  fine  perle  and  golde  puft  up  in  heart. 
The  wine  of  hooredome  in  a  cup  she  bare. 
The  name  of  mysterie  writ  in  hir  face; 
The  bloud  of  martyrs  dere  were  hir  delite. 
Host  fierce  and  fell  this  woman  seemde  to  me. 
An  angell  then  descending  downe  from  Heaven 
Whh  thondring  voice  cride  out  aloude,  and  sayd, 
*Now  for  a  truth  great  Babylon  is  fallen/ 

ra 

"Then  might  I  see  upon  a  white  horse  set 
The  faithfull  man  with  flaming  countenaunce ; 


SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER  NOOT  229 

His  head  did  shine  with  crounes  set  therupon ; 
The  Worde  of  God  made  him  a  noble  name. 
His  precious  robe  I  saw  embrued  with  bloud. 
Then  saw  I  from  the  heaven  on  horses  white, 
A  puissant  armie  come  the  selfe  same  way. 
Then  cried  a  shining  angell,  as  me  thought, 
That  birdes  from  aire  descending  downe  on  earth 
Should  warre  upon  the  kings,  and  eate  their  flesh. 
Then  did  I  see  the  beast  and  kings  also 
Joinyng  their  force  to  slea  the  faithfull  man. 
But  this  fierce  hatefull  beast  and  all  hir  traine 
Is  pitilesse  throwne  downe  in  pit  of  fire. 

IV 

"I  saw  new  Earth,  new  Heaven,  sayde  Saint  John. 
And  loe!  the  sea  (quod  he)  is  now  no  more. 
The  holy  citie  of  the  Lorde  from  hye 
Descendeth,  garnisht  as  a  loved  spouse. 
A  voice  then  sayde,  'Beholde  the  bright  abode 
Of  God  and  men.    For  he  shall  be  their  God, 
And  all  their  teares  he  shall  wipe  cleane  away.' 
Hir  brightnesses  greater  was  than  can  be  founde. 
Square  was  this  citie,  and  twelve  gates  it  had. 
Eche  gate  was  of  an  orient  perfect  pearle, 
The  houses  golde,  the  pavement  precious  stone. 
A  lively  streame,  more  cleere  than  christall  is, 
Ranne   through  the  mid,   sprong   from  triumphant  seat. 
There  growes  lifes  fruite  unto  the  Churches  good.1 

In  reading  these  verses,  after  having  read  those 
from  Petrarch  and  De  Bellay,  we  see  the  whole  con- 
ception of  the  book.  In  these  verses  we  meet  with 
the  author,  and  with  the  very  pith  and  the  heart  of 
the  book.  In  all  the  examples  of  the  world's  vanity, 
taken  from  Petrarch  and  De  Bellay,  the  persecuted 
Protestants  read  only  their  own  misery  and  bereaved 
condition,  which,  in  themselves  should  have  depressed 

1  A  reprint  of  all  the  verses  of  the  Theatre  is  in  the  Cambridge 
edition  of  Spenser's  works,  p.  765-767.  A  reprint  of  all  these  verses 
in  the  original  Dutch  is  in  Albert  Verwey  Gedichten  van  Jonker  Jan 
van  der  Noot.  Amsterdam,  1895. 


230  SIR   JOHN    VAN  DER   NOOT 

and  disheartened  them  to  death.  But  that  was  not 
the  idea  of  the  author.  He,  one  of  their  leading 
spirits,  their  poet  and  their  genius,  says  to  his 
brethren  and  sisters :  This  world's  vanity,  which  we 
endure,  is  everywhere,  and  is  no  exception  in  this 
world;  but  our  hope  and  our  consolation  is  some- 
where else.  Our  enemy,  the  Anti-Christ,  and  the 
Church  of  Rome,  which  is  under  the  leadership  of 
Anti-Christ  in  persecuting  the  martyrs,  shall  fall  down 
as  the  great  Babylon ;  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Christ, 
shall  be  triumphant,  and  our  future  is  the  eternal  life 
in  the  Holy  City  of  God. 

In  these  four  verses  the  author  gives  with  mas- 
terly treatment  the  four  chapters  of  the  life-system 
of  the  persecuted  Protestants  of  his  time,  and  the 
real  expression  of  what  lived  in  the  hearts  of  thou- 
sands of  refugees  in  England,  in  Germany,  in  France 
and  in  the  Netherlands.  The  elaborate  prose  part 
that  follows  in  the  second  part  of  the  book,  and  covers 
107  pages,  is  nothing  but  a  broad  explanation  of  this 
great  scheme. 

Knowing  the  contents  of  this  book,  we  do  not 
wonder  that  it  appeared  within  a  few  years,  succes- 
sively, in  Dutch,  in  French,  in  English  and  in 
German. 

The  original  edition  was  in  Dutch,  published  in 
1568  at  Antwerp;1  then  he  translated  his  work  in 
French  during  the  same  year;  the  next  year,  1569,  ap- 
peared his  English  edition  printed  at  London  ;  and  two 
years  later,  in  1571,  it  appeared  in  German,  printed 
at  Cologne. 

This  book  is   one   of  the  most   striking  answers 


1  A  copy  of  the  original  Dutch  edition  is  in  the  Koninklyke 
bibliotheek  at  Brussels  and  another  one  in  the  Kon.  Bibl.  at  the  Hague. 
All  the  editions  are  mentioned  by  Aug.  Vermeulen — Leven  en  werken 
van  Jonker  Jan  van  der  Noot,  Antwerp,  1899. 


SIR   JOHN    VAN  DER   NOOT  231 

given  from  the  Protestant  side  of  that  time  to  the 
dreadful  persecutions  instigated  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  world  power,  and  one  of  the  best  expressions 
of  what  lived  in  the  hearts  of  thousands  of  perse- 
cuted people  in  the  different  countries  of  western 
Europe. 

It  is  not  for  this  reason  only  that  this  book  may 
be  called  a  remarkable  one,  but  for  its  literary  value, 
and  for  its  illustrations  as  well. 

The  best  authors  on  the  history  of  the  Dutch  liter- 
ature agree  at  least  in  this  point,  that  this  and  other 
works  of  Van  der  Noot  belong  to  those  books,  which 
started  a  new  epoch  in  national  literature,  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  work  of  Hooft  and  Vondel.1 

The  English  version  of  this  book,  especially  as 
regards  the  first  part,  containing  the  verses,  is  more 
and  more  considered  to  be  an  event  in  the  history  of 
English  literature,  as  far  as  the  development  of  the 
sonnet  and  of  blank  verse  is  concerned. 

Speaking  about  the  verses  contained  in  this  book, 
Alexander  B.  Grosart,  the  editor  of  the  famous  edi- 
tion of  Edmund  Spenser's  works,  says:  "But  this  is 
more  than  a  curiosity  of  Literature.  It  is  a  central 
fact  in  the  story  of  our  national  Literature,  and 
specifically  in  the  story  of  the  origin  and  the  progress 
of  the  blank  verse  which  was  predestined  soon  to  grow 
so  mighty  and  marvelous  an  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  Christopher  Marlowe  and  Shakespeare,  and  onward 
of  Milton,  Cowper  and  Wordsworth."2 

Finally,  as  regards  its  illustrations  this  book,  as 
everybody  acknowledges,  has  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  emblem  book  printed  in  the  English  language. 

1  Albert     Verwey,     Kedichten     van     Jonker     Jan     ban     der     Noot, 
Amsterdam,    1905,    p.    1-6;    G.    Kalff,    Gcschiedenis    der    Nederlandsche 
Letterkunde,     III,     356;     J.     de     Winkel,     De     antwilkkelingsgang     der 
Nederlandsche  Letterkunde,   I,  298;   Aug.   Vermeulen,  Lcven  en  werken 
van   Jonker  Jan   van    der  Noot,    Antwerp,    1899,    p.    114-140. 

2  Alexander  B.   Grosart,   Complete   Works  of  Spenser,  I.  25. 


232  SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER   NOOT 

2.     Its  author. 

The  author  of  this  book  was  Sir  John  van  der 
Noot1  (1539-1595),  a  nobleman  of  the  Southern 
Netherlands,  born  at  Brecht,  near  Antwerp.  The 
ancestors  of  Van  der  Noot  were,  during  several  cen- 
turies, held  in  great  esteem  in  Brabant,  and  often  en- 
joyed the  highest  offices  in  the  state.  Our  poet,  whose 
real  name  was  Jan  Baptista  van  der  Noot,  had  the 
advantage  of  a  high  education.  He  knew  how  to 
write  Latin,  was  well  acquainted  with  Italian  and 
Spanish,  while  in  the  French  language  he  expressed 
himself  nearly  as  well  as  in  Flemish,  his  mother 
tongue.  After  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1558,  he 
settled  at  Antwerp,  and  after  he  became  of  age,  we 
find  him  among  the  magistrates  of  Antwerp.  Some 
years  later,  Van  der  Noot  was  celebrated  at  Antwerp 
as  a  great  poet,  and  even  was  made  poet  laureate, 
which  was  in  Flanders  very  exceptional  A  great 
admirer  of  the  Italian  and  French  humanistic  poetry, 
especially  of  Petrarch  and  Marot,  Du  Bellay  and 
Ronsard,  he  had  much  esteem  for  poetry,  "which  gives 
immortality,"  and  he  was  well  conscious  of  his  own 
literary  abilities,  as  well  as  of  his  noble  birth,  and 
his  high  standing.  During  the  tumultuous  days  of 
1566,  when  the  long  fostered  spirit  of  the  Reforma- 
tion inspired  the  mass  of  the  people  more  and  more 
with  antipathy  against  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
and  at  last  broke  out  in  the  image-breaking,  Van  der 
Noot  appears  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Calvinistic 
people,  trying  to  get  hold  of  the  government  of  the 
city.  But  soon,  when  the  Duke  of  Alva  was  on  his 
way  to  the  Netherlands,  Van  der  Noot  was  among 
the  hundred  thousand  people  who  fled  from  the  coun- 

iTAll  we  know  about  the  life  of  Van  der  Noot  is  brought  together 
by  August  Vermeulen  in  his  "Het  leven  en  de  werken  van  Jonker 
Jan  van  der  Noot,  Antwerpen,  1899." 


SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER   NOOT  233 

try,  and  so,  in  the  year  1569,  we  find  him  at  London, 
as  one  of  the  thousands  of  Dutch  refugees  in  that  city. 
Here  he  stayed  for  more  than  two  years  at  least 
(March,  1567,  until  May  25,  1569,  the  date  of  the 
dedication  of  his  English  version  of  the  Theatre  to 
Queen  Elizabeth).  At  what  time  he  really  left  Lon- 
don we  do  not  know,  but  in  1571  w'e  find  him  in  Ger- 
many, and  during  the  next  year,  1572,  the  remarkable 
year  of  the  St.  Bartholemew,  the  year  of  the  first 
triumph  of  the  sea-beggars,  those  first  invincible  sons 
of  liberty,  Van  der  Noot  published  his  German  trans- 
lation of  the  Theatre,  printed  at  Cologne.  But  this 
German  translation  was  no  more  the  same  Theatre 
that  was  written  in  Dutch,  translated  into  French 
and  English  and  dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  The 
sharpest  expressions  against  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  were  changed  and  softened.  Van  der  Noot, 
after  having  left  London,  and  probably  after  having 
been  disappointed  in  a  social  way,  had  gone  to  live  in 
Germany,  and  had  there  become  acquainted  with  quite 
another  kind  of  people,  for  instance,  with  the  great 
Dutch  humanist,  Coornhert,  who  later  proved  able 
enough  to  convert  the  young  Arminius  from  Calvinism 
to  Humanism.  Under  such  influences,  Van  der  Noot 
was  converted,  probably  first  from  Calvinism,  and 
finally  from  Humanism  to  Roman  Catholicism,  and 
his  German  Theatre  is  the  best  proof  of  this  conver- 
sion. The  manifold  discussions  about  principles  and 
dogmas  among  the  Calvinists,  and  the  often  one-sided 
predominance  amongst  them  of  intellectualism,  and 
logical  ideas,  with  their  unavoidable  consequences,  ac- 
companied but  too  often  with  a  lack  of  kindred  feel- 
ing, seem  to  have  been  unbearable  for  Van  der  Noot, 
a  poet  of  tender  feeling,  more  than  of  intellectual 
strength.  On  the  social  side  not  independent,  and 


234  SIR   JOHN    VAN  DER   NOOT 

probably  pretty  badly  supported;  on  the  literary  and 
artistic  side  not  so  much  appreciated  as  he  deserved, 
he  did  not  more  feel  himself  at  home  among  those 
stubborn    Calvinists,    who    submitted    every    part    of 
human  life  to  the  iron  consequences  of  their  infallible 
dogmas,  and  who,  at  that  time,  had  not  made  enough 
progress  in  the  finer  side  of  life  to  pay  full  attention 
to  the  value  of  poetry  and  of  art.    Like  Hugo  Grotius, 
like  Rousseau,  like  Robespierre,  Van  der  Noot  was 
of  a  soft  and  tender  nature,  easily  aroused  to  sym- 
pathy,  as  well   as   to   antipathy,  using  with  literary 
ability  the  power  of  his  pen  like  a  flash  of  lightning, 
and   consequently   easily  misunderstood  by  posterity, 
which  often  does  not  take  the  trouble  to  analyse,  and 
fully  to  understand,  and  is  but  too  often  satisfied  by 
simply  looking  at  men  and  events  from  their  outward 
side.     His  return  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  does 
not  show  him  in  the  sublime  splendor  of  a  martyr, 
but  for  us  at  least  his  return  is  as  easily  understood 
as   that    of   his    famous   English   contemporary,    Ben 
Jonson,  or  as  that  of  his  great  compatriot,  Vondel. 
The  true  explanation  of  Van  der  Noot's  return  to  the 
Roman   Catholic   Church,   and   of   other  facts  of  his 
life,   as,   for  instance,  the  real   story  of  the  English 
translation  of  the  verses  in  his  Theatre,  have  not  yet 
been   fully   discovered,  but   it  is  certainly  going  too 
far  to  say  that  Van  der  Noot  "never  hesitated  to  make 
the  biggest  lies,"1  and  I   fully  agree  with  Dr.  Kalff 
when  he  says  that  a  "Sufficient  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions as  yet  cannot  be  given."2 

However  this  may  be,  Van  der  Noot  lived  in  Ger- 
many for  several  years.  In  1576  he  published  there 
"Das  Buch  Extrasis,"  but  in  1578  we  find  him  in 


lAug    Vermeulen,    p.    30.      Literally    Vermeulen   says    "Nooit  heeft 
hy    gevreesd    over    alle    waarheid    heente    spnngen. 

2  G.    Kalff,    Geschiedenis   der   Nederlandsche   Lctterkunde,   III,   34  1- 


SIR   JOHN    VAN   DER   NOOT  235 

Paris,  and  a  short  time  afterwards  he  returned  to  his 
native  city,  after  having  traveled  for  eleven  years  in 
England,  Germany  and  France.  Recommended  by 
the  Arch-Duke,  Matthias  of  Austria,  who  hoped  for 
a  while  to  be  governor  of  the  Netherlands,  Van  der 
Noot  returned  to  Antwerp  as  a  Catholic,  and,  as  far 
as  we  know,  lived  there  till  his  death  in  1595. 

His  poetical  works  are  (i)  "Het  Bosken"  (1567), 
containing  several  little  poems ;  this  work  has  been 
reprinted  many  times ;  (2)  The  Theatre,  in  Dutch 
(1568),  in  French  (1568),  in  English  (1569),  in  Ger- 
man (1571);  (3)  The  Olympias  (Antwerp,  1579), 
an  allegorical-epic  poem  in  twelve  books,  after  the 
model  of  the  great  French  and  Italian  poets  of  the 
Rennaisance.  Of  this  work,  Aug.  Vermeulen  men- 
tions several  editions ;  in  German  it  was  translated 
under  the  title,  "Das  Buch  Extasis ;"  (4)  Lofsang 
van  Brabant  (Song  in  Praise  of  Brabant),  1580. 

In  the  history  of  Dutch  literature,  Van  der  Noot's 
place  is  that  of  the  best  known  precursor  of  the  great 
literature  of  Hooft  and  Vondel,  as  "the  only  one  from 
an  age  in  which  we  till  this  time  did  not  find  one 
single  poet  of  any  importance  j"1  as  the  poet  who  has 
been  intermediate  between  the  poets  of  the  French 
Renaissance,  and  the  Dutch  poets  of  the  seventeenth 
century;  as  "the  Pleiade-poet  of  the  Netherlands," 
without  whom  there  would  have  been  no  Hooft  and 
even  no  Vondel,  at  least  not  so  complete  and  not  with 
so  much  authority  in  the  language  of  the  jambus,"2 
or  as  "one  of  those  who  prepared  the  way  for  the 
Renaissance"  in  the  Netherlands.3 

For  the  history  of  English  literature,  his  influence 

1  Albert    Verwey,    Gedichtcn   van   Jonker    Van   der   Noot.      Preface, 
p.    i. 

2  Verwey,    p.   V. 
SKalff,    III,    386. 


236  SIR   JOHN    FAN  DER   NOOT 

is  confined  to  that  of  the  Theatre,  especially  to  the 
verses  in  that  book,  and  secondly  to  the  personal  influ- 
ence he  may  have  exerted  on  Edmund  Spenser.  The 
question  of  the  translation  of  the  poems  of  Van  der 
Noot's  Theatre  into  English,  and  the  connection  of 
Van  der  Noot  with  Spenser  is,  however,  so  important 
that  it  for  a  moment  requires  our  special  attention. 
3.  Spenser's  connection  with  ffthe  Theatre/' 
In  the  year  1591,  Edmund  Spenser,  among  the 
poems  of  his  Complaints,  reprinted  the  verses  which 
in  1569  had  appeared  in  the  Theatre  of  Van  der 
Noot.  By  revising,  and  partly  rewriting  them, 
Spenser  places  these  verses  so  decidedly  under  his 
own  name,  and  authority,  that  nobody  can  doubt 
Spenser's  authorship  of  these  English  translations  of 
Van  der  Noot's  verses,  unless  for  very  serious  reasons, 
since  Spenser's  character  is  not  of  such  kind  as  to 
make  it  easy  for  us  to  assume  him  guilty  of  so  bold 
a  lie,  involving  a  literary  theft  of  the  very  worst  kind 
that  can  be  thought  of.  That  Spenser  himself  super- 
vised the  reprint  of  these  verses  in  1591  is  absolutely 
certain,  since  he  gives  therein  an  entirely  new  version 
of  those  of  Du  Bellay,  and  makes  several  little  cor- 
rections in  those  of  Petrarch.1 

On  the  other  hand,  Van  der  Noot,  in  his  Theatre 
in  1569,  does  not  mention  Spenser  with  one  word,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  says  only  that  he  translated  those 
verses  from  the  original  Dutch  edition  of  the  Theatre. 
Consequently,  any  honest  treatment  of  the  question 
has  to  start  with  an  endeavor  to  reconcile  all  the  other 
facts  with  the  statement  of  Spenser  and  with  that  of 
Van  der  Noot,  and  if  possible  to  reconcile  these  state- 

1  Rev.  Henry  John  Todd,  in  his  "Works  of  Spenser,"  Vol.  VII, 
32S"332>  gives  both  the  editions  of  1569  and  of  1591,  comparing 
them  one  with  the  other  and  showing  the  differences.  Also  in  the 
Cambridge  edition  of  Spenser's  works  by  Dr.  E.  E.  N.  Dodge  both 
versions  are  reprinted,  p.  764-767. 


Jonkheer  Jan  van  der  Noot. 

Kopergravure,  voorkomende  in  Cort  Begryp  der  XII  Boeken 
Olympiados  (1579). 


SIR  JOHN   FAN  DER  NOOT  237 

ments.  Neither  the  short  solution  of  the  Westminster 
Review,1  boldly  accusing  Van  der  Noot  of  being  a 
pharisee,  who  did  not  acknowledge  the  production  of 
another  author,  nor  that  of  De  Hoog2  supposing 
simply  that  the  edition  of  the  Complaints  in  1591  was 
published  without  Spenser's  knowing  it,  nor  that  of 
the  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature*  in  mak- 
ing a  haughty  and  empty  statement,  as  if  there  was 
no  question  at  all,  and  as  if  even  the  name  of  Van 
der  Noot  might  be  entirely  left  out  in  treating 
Spenser's  earliest  work,  can  satisfy  anybody  who  is 
acquainted  with  the  difficulties  in  this  remarkable 
question.  Recognizing  the  fact  that  scholars  of  repu- 
tation who  have  made  this  question  the  subject  of 
their  especial  research,  differ  so  much,  that,  for 
instance,  Grosart  says:  "Looking  closely  into  the 
Petrarch  series,  it  will  be  felt  that  their  style  is  de- 
cisively that  of  Spenser  in  his  early  manner — Charac- 
ter and  cadence  are  pre-eminently  Spenserian  here  and 
throughout,"  while,  on  the  contrary,  Koeppler  says : 
"Die  Gedichte  des  'Theatre'  von  1569  zeigen  keine 
Spur  der  so  augenfalligen  Farbung  der  Spenserschen 
Sprache,"  and  a  third  one,  August  Vermeulen,  after 
his  researches,  comes  to  this  conclusion:  "Whether 
Van  der  Noot  has  known  Spenser  at  all,  remains  an 
open  question/'4  we  have  to  admit  that  here  is  an  inter- 
esting question,  the  solution  of  which  has  been  sought 
by  scholars  in  the  Netherlands,  in  Belgium,  in  Eng- 
land, in  Germany  and  in  America. 

The  first  and  most  important  question  is :  how  to 
reconcile  the  authorship  claimed  by  Spenser  in  1591 
with  the  statement  of  Van  der  Noot  in  1569  that  he 

1  Alexander  B.  Grosart,  Complete  Works  of  Spenser,  I,  22. 

2  De  Hoog,  Studien  II,  48. 

3  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature,  III,  241  and  285. 

4  August  Vermeulen,  p.  58  and  59. 


238  SIR   JOHN    VAN   DER   NOOT 

translated  the  verses  himself.  Now  we  can  prove  that 
when  Van  der  Noot  says  that  he  translated  those 
verses  from  the  Dutch,  this  is  anyhow  not  quite  true, 
and  that,  to  save  the  honor  of  Van  der  Noot,  we  have 
to  take  these  words  in  any  possible  sense  in  which 
the  author  of  the  book  at  that  moment  might  have 
used  them.  The  comparison  of  the  English  transla- 
tion with  the  Dutch  and  the  French  versions  shows 
clearly  that  they  are  translated  more  from  the  French 
than  from  the  Dutch.1  If  this  be  a  fact,  which  nobody 
can  deny,  we  have  to  find  out  what  else  Van  der  Noot 
as  an  honest  man  can  have  meant  by  the  words 
"translated  from  the  Dutch."  This  is  indeed  not  as 
difficult  as  it  looks.  Van  der  Noot  had  published  his 
"Theatre"  first  of  all  in  Dutch,  his  own  mother 
tongue.  So  he  considered  his  "Theatre"  as  a  Dutch 
work.  All  the  other  editions,  the  French,  the  English 
and  the  German,  he  considered — and  he  wished  other 
people  to  consider  them — as  versions  of  his  Dutch 
work.  That,  in  his  sovereign  power  over  his  own 
work,  he,  as  the  author,  followed  for  his  English  ver- 
sion more  the  French  than  the  Dutch,  did  not  take 
away  the  fact  that  the  original  of  his  book  was  the 
Dutch  edition.  In  that  sense  he  certainly  could  main- 
tain that  the  English  version  was  a  translation  from 
the  Dutch,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  in  making 
this  English  translation  another,  viz.,  a  French  trans- 
lation, had  rendered  so  considerable  a  service.  Fur- 
thermore, that  he,  for  his  English  version,  used  the 
assistance  of  Spenser,  at  that  time  a  poor  young  stu- 
dent, hardly  seventeen  years  old,  whom  he  probably 
paid  one  penny  for  each  line,  just  as  Rubens  used  the 
assistance  of  his  pupils  for  some  details  of  hundreds 
of  his  pictures  which  were  sold  under  his  name,  could 

1  Ibid,    54    and    55. 


SIR  JOHN    VAN  DER   NOOT  239 

not  be  such  an  important  fact  for  the  author,  who  was 
the  master  of  the  whole  work.  The  young  assistant 
"was  in  no  way  a  principal  in  the  main  undertaking 
when  the  volume  came  out,  therefore,  it  nowhere  gave 
his  name.  He  had  done  his  work,  and  received  his 
pay — there  was  no  need  to  acknowledge  his  services."1 
At  that  moment  Van  der  Noot  coufd  not  imagine  that 
the  name  of  his  young  assistant  would  one  day  become 
famous,  and  that  those  translations  would  play  an 
important  part  in  English  literature.  As  a  principal 
he  did  what,  all  over  the  world,  principals  do  with 
their  young  assistants,  and  with  their  work.  By  get- 
ting his  pay,  and  no  further  recognition  at  that 
moment,  Spenser  got  just  what  every  young  man  gets, 
when  the  master  honors  him  by  asking  his  assistance. 
Just  as  an  architect  says,  with  our  full  consent:  "I 
built  that  house,"  even  where  he  personally  did  not 
touch  one  single  stone,  so  Van  der  Noot  could  say: 
"I  made  this  English  version  of  my  original  Dutch 
work."  Van  der  Noot  was  here  the  architect ;  he  was 
the  author  of  the  work  which  he  wrote  in  Dutch,  and 
the  work  of  translating  was  of  course  considered  as 
an  insignificant  task,  for  which  he  might  have  em- 
ployed any  other  unknown  person,  as  well  as  the 
young  Spenser.  Of  his  original  Dutch  work,  the 
sovereign  author  made  his  different  versions  with  as 
many  alterations  as  he  thought  necessary,  and  with 
the  assistance  of  such  persons  as  he  chose.  Looking 
at  the  matter  from  that  point  of  view,  he  could  hon- 
estly maintain  that  he  translated  his  original  work  into 
French,  English  and  German,  just  as  we  ourselves 
speak  about  the  French,  English  and  German  versions 
of  Van  der  Noot's  Theatre. 

Interpreting  Van  der  Noot's  statement,  from .  his 


1  R.   E.   N.  Dpdge,   Cambridge  edition  of  Spenser's   Works,  p.   765. 


240  SIR  JOHN   FAN  DER  NOOT 

point  of  view  as  chief  author  of  the  work,  we  can 
perfectly  reconcile  the  claim  of  Spenser  that  he  really 
translated    these    verses — although    in    an    absolutely 
strict  sense  of  the  word  this  cannot  be  maintained 
either,  but  has  to  be  taken  with  some  explanation  of 
common  sense.     The  fact  that  Spenser  in  this  trans- 
lation of  1569,  who,  as  a  boy  of  seventeen  years,  sup- 
posed that  he  did  the  work    alone,    shows    a    better 
knowledge  of  the  French  language  than  when  twenty 
years  later  in  1591,  as  a  learned  man  of  thirty-eight, 
he,  at  least  in  three  places,  shows  that  he  failed  to 
understand  the  French  text  of  the  Ruins  of  Rome 
by  Du  Bellay,  which  he  at  that  time  translated,1  this 
fact  shows  clearly  that  Van  der  Noot,  who  understood 
perfectly  his  French,  probably  explained  to  the  young 
Spenser  the  meaning  of  the  French,  and  the  Dutch 
texts,  and  that  consequently  the  translation  was  not 
entirely  an  independent  work  by  the  young  Spenser. 
Nevertheless,  the  masterly  expression  of  the  thought 
in  English  verses  was  Spenser's  work  and  the  devel- 
opment of  the  English  Literature  has  made  this  part 
of  the  work  for  us  the  most  important  part.    The  ex- 
planations given  by  Van  der  Noot  to  his  assistant- 
translator,  the  young  Spenser,   for  the  right  under- 
standing of  the  Dutch  and  the  French  texts,  may  have 
been  felt  too  deeply  by  the  honest  Spenser  for  him  to 
have  felt  like  claiming  immediately  a  full  right  to  call 
these  verses  his  own,  and  this,  as  well  as  the  fact  that 
the  translating  was  done  in  the  service  of  Van  der 
Noot,  may  have  been  the  reason  for  the  vague  expres- 
sion, "formerly  translated,"  added  to  the  title  of  the 
verses  when  Spenser  republished  them  in  1591.     At 
that  time,  the  name  of  Van  der  Noot,  an  apostate 
from  Protestantism,  had  lost  a  great  part  of  its  fame 


1  See  Vermeulen,   p.   58. 


SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER  NOOT  241 

among  the  Reformed  people,  and  the  author  of  the 
Shepherd's  Calendar  and  The  Faerie  Queene  might 
not  think  it  desirable  to  mention  publicly  his  connec- 
tion with  Van  der  Noot.  On  the  other  hand,  as  soon 
as  it  was  no  longer  the  fact  of  their  being  translations 
but  the  masterly  character  of  the  English  verses  that 
had  become  important,  Spenser  could  with  full  right 
claim  them  as  his  own  work.  The  fact  that  the  prin- 
cipal, Dr.  Mulcaster,  of  the  Merchant  Taylor's  school, 
from  which  the  young  Spenser  had  just  graduated 
when  he  met  Van  der  Noot,  is  said  by  Warton  to  have 
given  special  attention  to  the  teaching  of  the  English 
language,1  seems  to  be  in  full  accordance  with  this 
view  of  the  question,  as  it  implies  that  Spenser  did 
not  give  the  customary  amount  of  attention  to  French 
and  other  foreign  languages.  It  can  hardly  mean  that 
no  attention  was  paid  to  foreign  languages,  including 
French,  without  some  knowledge  of  which  the  young 
Spenser  could  not  have  done  the  work  at  all. 

In  so  far  everything  can  reasonably  be  explained 
if  we  presume  that  Spenser  really  is  the  translator, 
while  on  the  other  hand,  when  we  for  a  moment 
assume  that  Spenser  was  not  the  translator,  we  are 
immediately  coerced  to  the  absurd  conclusion  that  the 
author  of  Shepherd's  Calendar  (1579),  and  of  the 
Faerie  Queene  (1590)  chose  to  publish  under  his 
name  a  few  verses,  which  had  been  printed  twenty 
years  before,  in  which  verses  he  had  no  part  at  all, 
and  that  with  the  chance  at  any  moment  of  being 
blamed  for  so  shameless  a  literary  theft  by  Van  der 
Noot  himself,  who  was  still  living,  or  by  the  real  trans- 
lator, if  such  an  one  was  alive,  or  had  any  living 
friends. 

An  additional  argument    in    favor    of    Spenser's 

1  Grosart's   Works  of   Spenser,  I.    18. 
16 


242  SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER   NOOT 

authorship  of  these  verses  is  that  of  Grosart,1  viz., 
that  probably  Van  der  Noot  did  not  master  well 
enough  the  English  language  to  make  these  verses. 
This  argument,  although  perhaps  of  some  value,  has 
been  exaggerated  very  much  by  Grosart,  who  goes 
so  far  as  to  suppose  that  even  in  prose  Van  der  Noot 
could  not  express  his  thoughts  in  English.  This 
indeed  looks  very  improbable.  A  man  of  noble  birth, 
of  high  education,  and  of  remarkable  capacity,  who 
knew  not  only  his  French  perfectly,  but  even  his 
Italian  very  well,  one  of  the  magistrates  in  the  cos- 
mopolitan metropolis  of  Antwerp,  at  that  time  a  city 
where  thousands  of  English  people  lived,  and  where 
the  opportunity  of  learning  English  was  very  great, 
such  a  man  probably  spoke  and  wrote  the  English 
language  sufficiently  to  express  his  thoughts  in  a 
language  which  was  at  that  time  so  near  to  Dutch, 
and  so  easy  for  a  Dutchman  to  learn,  that  the  his- 
torian, Van  Meteren,  about  the  year  1600  calls  Eng- 
lish "only  a  broken  Dutch."  And  that  Van  der  Noot 
for  this  reason  should  have  to  be  considered  as  not 
having  written  himself  even  the  pamphlet  entitled 
"Governance  and  preservation  of  them  that  fear  the 
Playe,"  and  that  there  should  be  no  evidence  what- 
ever to  show  that  Van  der  Noot  commanded  enough 
of  English  to  write  it  idiomatically,  when  living  at 
London  for  at  least  two  years  and  a  half,  and  having 
all  sorts  of  correctors  around  him,  seems  to  me  an 
unnecessary  exaggeration,  for  which  there  is  "no  evi- 
dence whatever." 

The  real  reason  why  Van  der  Noot,  in  making  his 
English  version  of  the  Theatre,  put  as  much  of  the 
work  as  possible  upon  other  persons  in  his  service, 
and  caused  even  the  prose  part  to  be  translated  by 

1  Grosart,  p.    19. 


SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER   NOOT  243 

another  man,  seems  to  me  to  lie  in  the  character  and 
position  of  Van  der  Noot  as  a  nobleman,  an  aristocrat, 
a  high  spirited  poet  of  the  Rennaissance,  a  former 
magistrate  at  Antwerp,  who  had  formed  the  custom 
of  commanding  others,  and  of  having  everything  done 
as  much  as  possible  by  other  people  in  his  service. 

Another  interesting  question  in  connection  with 
Spenser's  authorship  of  these  translations,  is  the  prob- 
lem that  lies  before  us  in  the  four  "visions"  or  verses 
taken  from  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John.  Spenser 
claims  the  authorship  of  the  verses  translated  from 
Petrarch,  and  of  those  from  Du  Bellay,  but  he  neither 
reprints  nor  says  a  word  about  the  four  beautiful  and 
most  important  verses  from  the  Apocalypse,  which, 
as  we  saw,  form  the  very  pith  and  kernel  of  the  whole 
"Theatre."  These  verses  are  in  their  original  Dutch, 
the  only  original  poems  of  Van  der  Noot  in  this  col- 
lection, and  in  their  English  version  they  are  as  beau- 
tiful in  literary  form  as  any  of  the  others.  Did  Van 
der  Noot  himself  translate  these  four  verses?  But 
then  it  would  become  very  probable  that  he  translated 
the  others  as  well.  Or  did  Spenser  translate  also 
these  verses  ?  But  then  the  question  arises :  Why 
did  Spenser  not  reprint  these  four  verses  with  the 
others  in  his  Complaints?  There  is  great  reason  to 
think  that  Spenser  translated  them  and  that  Van  der 
Noot  did  not,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  why  Spenser 
did  not  reprint  these  verses  in  his  volume  of  "Com- 
plaints." It  is  very  improbable  that  Van  der  Noot 
should  have  had  another  man  in  his  service  for  the 
translation  of  only  these  four  verses,  and  conse- 
quently all  the  evidence  for  Spenser's  authorship  of  the 
other  verses,  operate  also  as  evidence  for  his  author- 
ship of  these  four.  Besides  this,  it  seems  to  me,  from 
inner  evidence,  impossible  to  consider  Van  der  Noot 


244  SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER  NOOT 

himself  as  the  translator.  Some  expressions  and 
thoughts  which  are  found  in  the  Dutch  original  are 
left  out  in  the  English  version,  expressions  which 
Van  der  Noot  himself  at  that  time  never  would  have 
left  out.  In  the  second  of  the  four  verses,  a  special 
verse  against  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  "the  woman 
sitting  on  the  Beast,"  which  Van  der  Noot  thus 
expresses  in  the  Dutch  original,  is  altered  in  the 
English : 

"Wt  den  hemel  hoorde  ick  een  ander  steemme  buyghen 
"Segghende,  gaat  wt  heur  op  dat  ghy  heurder  plagen 
"Niet  deelachtig  en  wort,  myn  volck,  myn  goet  behagen." 

The  expression  "gaat  wt  heur" (go  out  of  her), that 
is  the  advice  from  heaven  to  leave  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  English  version,  but 
is  at  that  moment  such  a  prevailing  idea  of  Van  der 
Noot  that  he  himself  when  translating  these  lines 
never  would  have  left  out  this  main  idea,  unless  we 
suppose  that  he  accommodated  his  language  to-  cir- 
cumstances and  conditions  in  England,  just  as  in  later 
time  he  did  in  Germany,  which  is  a  possibility.  In  the 
same  verse,  Van  der  Noot  speaks  about  "the  blood 
of  the  saints,  the  good  witnesses  of  Jesus"  ("Van  der 
heylighen  bloet,  Jesus  goede  ghetuyghen"),  while  in 
the  English  version  we  read  about  "The  blood  of 
martyrs  dere."  The  warmer  and  more  sympathetic 
expression  "martyrs  dere"  looks,  indeed,  quite  Spen- 
serian, while  "the  good  witnesses"  of  Van  der  Noot, 
looks  more  like  that  of  the  Humanist.  It  is  only  a 
little  difference,  but  one  in  which  speaks  the  heart  of 
the  author,  as  well  as  that  of  the  translator  in  a  typi- 
cal and  characteristic  way. 

Finally,  the  question  why  Spenser,  although  he 
translated  them,  did  not  claim  them,  and  did  not  re- 


SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER   NOOT  245 

print  them  in  his  Complaints  with  the  others,  is  not 
difficult  to  answer.  These  four  "visions"  are  not 
complaints.  These  verses  on  Anti-Christ,  on  the 
Woman  sitting  on  the  Beast,  on  Christ,  and  on  the 
Holy  City,  were  perfectly  in  their  place  in  Van  der 
Noot's  Theatre,  "an  argument  both  profitable  and  de- 
lectable to  all  that  sincerely  love  the  word  of  God," 
as  the  title  tells  us,  but  they  were  not  at  all  in  their 
place  in  the  Complaints.  So  we  can  perfectly  under- 
stand that  Spenser,  perhaps  to  keep  faith  with  his 
publisher,  left  them  out,  as  not  belonging  to  the  kind 
of  poems  which  he  intended  to  publish  in  his  Com- 
plaints, 

That  Spenser,  in  the  edition  of  his  Complaints, 
did  not  mention  at  all  the  name  of  Van  der  Noot,  and 
his  "Theatre,"  may  find  its  reason  in  the  fact  that  Van 
der  Noot  had  returned  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
and,  therefore,  as  an  apostate  from  Protestantism,  had 
fallen  into  disgrace  among  the  Protestants.  This  m&y 
have  been  the  reason,  as  well,  why  Spenser  never 
claimed  the  translations  of  the  four  verses  of  the 
Apocalypse,  because  he  never  could  claim  them,  with- 
out telling  that  they  were  translated  from  Van  der 
Noot,  and  since  Spenser  as  a  Calvinist  could  not  wish 
his  name  to  be  connected  any  more  with  that  of  the 
Catholic,  Van  der  Noot,  he  left  them  unmentioned. 

4.  Van  der  Noot  and  Spenser 

The  last  question  which  asks  our  attention  is: 
What  was  the  relation  between  Spenser  and  Van  der 
Noot?  And:  Has  Van  der  Noot  exerted  any  influ- 
ence on  Spenser,  and  through  Spenser  on  English  liter- 
ature? I  know  that  this  question  has  to  be  decided 
in  the  main  by  logical  inference  rather  more  than  by 
direct  facts.  But  there  is  some  value  in  logical  rea- 
soning. At  least  once  in  a  while,  logical  inferences 


246  SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER   NOOT 

do  mean  something,  when  applied  to  creatures  pre- 
tending to  be  reasonable  beings.  For  the  present 
purpose  I  give  consideration  to  the  following  seven 
points : 

(1)  The  verses  of  Van  der  Noot's  English  edition 
of  his  Theatre  are  the  earliest  known  verses  of  Spen- 
ser. 

(2)  If    Van   der    Noot's    Theatre    was    successful, 
expressing  the  deepest  thoughts  of  thousands  of  per- 
secuted Protestants  in  several  countries  of  Western 
Europe,  and  at  the  same  time  making  some  precious 
contributions   to  literature,  then  this   success  was  at 
the  same  time  a  success  for  the  young  Spenser,  and 
an  encouragement  to  him  to  develop  his  abilities  as 
a  poet,  which  hardly  can  be  overestimated. 

(3)  The  ideas  of  the  Theatre,  as  Van  der  Noot  laid 
them  before  the  young  Spenser,  and  explained  them 
to  him,  these  great  ideas  of  the  world's  vanity,  of  the 
struggle  and   sufferings   of   Christians,  and   of   their 
final  triumph,   and  their   eternal  happiness,  have  re- 
mained with  Spenser ;  they  have  formed  the  center  of 
his  life-system,  and  are  to  be  found  in  all  his  later 
works. 

(4)  In  Van  der  Noot  the  young  Spenser  found 
just  the  leading  spirit  he  needed  for  the  development 
of  his  genius — a  man  who  combined  the  high  literary 
taste  of  the  Rennaissance,  with  the  religious  struggle 
of  the  Reformation,  a  beautiful  combination,  which  in 
Spenser's  later  works  came  to  such  a  mighty  develop- 
ment.    Neither  a  pure  humanist,  dwelling  one-sidedly 
on  the  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome,  nor  a  simple 
Reformed  preacher,   forgetting  in   his   religious   zeal 
the  value  of  literary  beauty,  but  both  combined  in  one 
human  consciousness,  the  deep  religious  ideas  of  the 
Reformation,  and  the  finest  humanistic  taste  for  art 


SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER   NOOT  247 

and  literature,  that  was  what  the  developing  genius 
of  Spenser  needed,  and  that  was  what  he  must  have 
admired  in  the  author  of  the  Theatre.  The  young 
Spenser,  says  Grosart — and  he  studied  Spenser — was 
"quickened  and  fired  by  Van  der  Noot."1 

(5)  Twenty   years   after    the    publication    of   the 
Theatre,  Spenser  still  cherished  these  first  poems  so 
much  that  he  added  to  them  several  more  of  the  same 
kind,     under    the    title     of    the     "World's     Vanity" 
in  his  Complaints,  although  at.  that  time  it  must  have 
been  with  feelings  of  sorrow  that  Spenser  recalled  his 
early  acquaintance  with  the  Dutch  nobleman,  of  such 
high  education  and  learning,  now  long  since  returned 
to  the  Catholic  Church,  the  man  in  whose  service  he 
had  gained  his  first  success  as  a  poet  and  his  first 
great  encouragement  in  the  field  of  poetry. 

(6)  During  these  twenty  years,  Spenser  wrote  his 
Shepherd's  Calendar-,  with  the  Eclogue  for  Septem- 
ber, in  which  we  find  the  dialogue  between  Diggon 
Davie  and  Hobbinol.     This  Diggon  Davie  is,  accord- 
ing to  Kirk's  Glasse,  "the  very  friend  of  the  author 
and  this  friend  had  been  long  in  foreign  countries."2 
Grosart  recognizes  in  this  very  friend  Spenser's  early 
patron-friend,  Van  der  Noot.3    The  whole  diologue  of 
Diggon  Davie  and  Hobbinol,  says  Grosart,  is  "a  pas- 
sionate indictment   of   Popery,  exactly   reflecting  the 
Theatre."4     And  after  having  found  Van  der  Noot's 
person,  as  well  as  Van  der  Noot's  ideas,  in  Spenser's 
Shepherd's  Calendar,  Grosart  says,   "One  thinks  the 
more  of  Spenser,  that  he  thus  warmly  celebrated  his 
early  patron-friend."5 


1  Grosart,   Spenser's    Works,    I.    p.    25. 

2  Grosart,  p.   27. 

3  Ibid. 

4  Ibid. 

5  Ibid.,  p.  28. 


248  SIR  JOHN   VAN  DER  NOOT 

(7)  After  the  example  of  Van  der  Noot  as  he 
appeared  in  1569,  as  a  Protestant  refugee,  a  noble- 
man, a  learned  humanist,  the  author  of  the  Theatre, 
Spenser's  genius  has  developed  through  all  his  later 
life  as  we  see  in  his  works.  When  Van  der  Noot 
and  Spenser  met  together,  Van  der  Noot  was  at  the 
highest  point  of  his  fame,  and  of  his  ability,  while 
Spenser  was  just  at  that  age  which  is  so  apt  for  great 
impressions,  which  often  is  so  decisive  for  life,  and 
therefore  we  may  ask:  Has  there  been  anybody,  of 
whom  we  have  knowledge  that  probably  had  a  more 
important  and  a  more  deciding  influence  on  Spenser 
than  Van  der  Noot?  And  is  not  the  spirit  of  the 
Theatre  hauntingly  present  in  the  works  of  Spenser? 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

THE  "BEE  HIVE  OF  THE  ROMISH  CHURCH,"  BY  MAR- 
NIX  OF  ST.  ALDEGONDE 

With  the  exception  of  Erasmus'  Praise  of  Folly, 
there  is  probably  no  other  book  written  in  the  six- 
teenth century  which  found  so  many  readers  among 
the  Protestants,  as  the  biting  satire  of  Marnix  of  St. 
Aldegonde,  published  under  the  title  of  "The  Bee- 
hive." 

The  author  of  this  book,  Philip  of  Marnix,  Lord 
of  St.  Aldegonde,  commonly  called  "Marnix"  or  "St. 
Aldegonde,"  or  Marnix  of  St.  Aldegonde,  was  born 
at  Brussels  in  the  year  1538,  studied  at  the  University 
of  Lotivain,  and  at  Geneva  under  Calvin  and  Beza. 
After  having  returned  to  the  Netherlands,  he  be- 
came one  of  the  leaders  in  the  revolt  against  Spain, 
and  by  his  writings  one  of  the  best  defenders  of 
Protestantism.  He  defended  the  image-breaking  of 
1566,  and  fled  from  the  country  when,  in  1567,  the 
duke  of  Alva  came  to  the  Netherlands.  All  his  pos- 
sessions were  confiscated,  and  he  himself  was  con- 
demned to  death.  During  five  years,  from  1567  until 
1572,  he  lived  in  exile,  most  of  the  time  in  Germany, 
and  it  was  during  this  time  that  he  wrote  his  "Wil- 
helmus  van  Nassauwe,"  the  most  beautiful  national 
hymn  of  the  Dutch  people,  and  his  famous  satire 
against  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  entitled,  "De 
Byencorf  der  H.  Romische  Kercke"  (The  Beehive 
of  the  H.  Roman  Catholic  Church).  After  his  return 
to  the  Netherlands  he  appears  as  one  of  the  most 

249 


250        "BEE  HIVE  OF  THE  ROMISH  CHURCH" 

intimate  friends  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  who  often 
employed  him  for  diplomatic  missions  and  at  last 
made  him,  in  1583,  first  burgomaster  or  governor  of 
Antwerp.  But  when,  during  the  year  1585,  he  had 
been  forced  to  surrender  the  city  to  the  Spaniards, 
he  retired  to  his  country  place  at  Sauburg  in  Zealand, 
and  after  that  time  devoted  himself  entirely  to  his 
studies.  During  the  last  years  of  his  life,  when  he 
was  appointed  by  the  States  General  to  prepare  a 
new  translation  of  the  Bible,  he  moved  to  Leyden,' 
where  he  died  in  1598,  after  having  finished  only  a 
small  part  of  this  work.  "He  was  a  poet  of  much 
vigor  and  imagination,  a  prose  writer  whose  style  was 
surpassed  by  that  of  none  of  his  contemporaries,  a 
diplomatist  in  whose  tact  and  delicacy  William  of 
Orange  reposed  in  the  most  difficult  and  important 
negotiations,  an  orator  whose  discourses  on  many 
great  public  occasions  attracted  the  attention  of  Eur- 
ope, a  soldier  whose  bravery  was  to  be  attested  on 
many  a  well-fought  field,  a  theologian  so  skillful  in 
the  polemics  of  divinity  that  he  was  more  than  a 
match  for  a  bench  of  bishops  upon  their  own  ground, 
and  a  scholar  so  accomplished  that  besides  speaking 
and  writing  the  classical  and  several  modern  lan- 
guages with  facility  he  had  also  translated  for  popular 
use  the  Psalms  of  David  into  vernacular  verse,  and 
at  a  very  late  period  of  his  life  was  requested  by  the 
States-General  of  the  republic  to  translate  all  the 
Scriptures,  a  work  the  fulfillment  of  which  was  pre- 
vented by  his  death."  "His  device,  Repos  ailleurs, 
finely  typified  the  restless,  agitated  and  laborious  life 
to  which  he  was  destined."1 

ij.  L.  Motley,  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  Vol.  I,  Part  II, 
Chapter  VI.  The  best  monographs  on  the  life  and  works  of  St. 
Aldegonde  are  those  of  Edgar  Quinet,  Th.  Juste,  Alberdinck  Thym, 
J.  van  der  Have,  and  especially '  G.  Tjalma.  The  wprks  of  St.  Alde- 
gonde are  published  in  seven  volumes  with  introduction  by  E.  Quinet 
at  Brussels,  1857-1860.  His  religious  and  ecclesiastic  writings  in 
Dutch  were  collected  and  republished  in  four  vols.,  with  introduction 
by  J.  J.  Torenenbergen,  The  Hague,  1878. 


"BEE  HIVE  OF  THE  ROMISH  CHURCH"       251 

His  great  satire,  "The  Beehive,"  was  an  answer 
to  a  letter  published  by  Gentian  Hervet,  Bishop  of 
Bois  le  Due,  in  which  letter  an  endeavor  was 
made  to  convince  the  Protestants  of  their  error 
in  leaving  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  In  the  form 
of  a  commentary  to  that  letter  St.  Aldegonde  sub- 
mits all  the  peculiar  dogmas,  and  the  whole  policy 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  to  the  most  subtle 
criticism,  taking  himself  the  appearance  of  a  de- 
fender, and  in  that  way  producing  a  biting  satire, 
in  which  he  compared  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
to  a  bee  hive,  and  the  pope,  the  cardinals,  the  bishops, 
monks,  and  priests  to  the  different  kinds  of  bees 
every  kind  with  its  own  sundry  qualities.  Some  of 
these  bees,  he  says  (alluding  to  cardinals  and  bishops) 
live  in  the  neighborhood  of  their  king  and  "how  much 
the  nearer  they  approach  to  the  king  so  much  the 
thicker  and  rounder  they  commonly  grow."  Others 
live  a  more  solitary  life,  and  these  bees,  therefore, 
"are  called  with  the  Greek  word  Monachi."  Another 
kind  are  horseflies,  wasps  and  hornets  (the  common 
priests)  with  this  difference,  that  they  do  not  settle 
themselves  on  horses,  but  on  sheep  (the  people  of 
their  congregation),  on  which  they,  "for  fear  of  being 
entangled  in  the  fleece,  first  bite  away  the  wool,  after 
that  their  skinne,  and  lastly  do  suckle  their  blood, 
to  which  they  are  wonderfully  adjected." 

As  the  subject  of  this  book  touched  the  great 
struggle  between  Protestantism  and  Roman  Catholic- 
ism, and  as  the  literary  form  of  it  was  very  attrac- 
tive, and  its  author  one  of  the  most  learned  men 
of  his  age,  we  do  not  wonder  that  everywhere  the 
Protestants  were  anxious  to  read  this  book,  the  fame 
of  which  soon  spread  over  all  Western  Europe. 

After  the  first  three  editions  in  Dutch,  in   1569, 


252        "BEE  HIVE  OF  THE  ROMISH  CHURCH" 

1572  and  1674,  a  German  translation  followed  in  1576, 
and  an  English  version  in  1578.  The  title  of  the  first 
English  edition  is :  "Bee  Hive  of  the  Romish  Church, 
a  Worke  of  all  Good  Catholiks  too  be  read,  and  most 
necessary  to  be  understoode,  wherein  both  the  Cath- 
olike  religion  is  substantially  confirmed,  and  the  here- 
tikes  finely  fetcht  over  the  coales.  Translated  from 
Dutch  by  George  Gilpin  the  Elder." 

After  this  first  English  edition  there  followed  at 
least  three  later  ones,  viz.,  in  1580,  1623  and  1636. 
One  of  the  year  1598  is  declared  by  Van  Torenen- 
bergen  to  be  probably  the  same  as  that  of  1578,  the 
year  1598  being  a  printer's  error  in  the  catalogue  of 
Alfred  Russell  Smith,  at  London,  for  1578. 

In  Dutch  this  book  has  appeared  since  it  was  first 
published  in  at  least  twenty-eight  editions,  and  in  Ger- 
man in  at  least  fourteen. 

For  the  Huguenots  in  France,  St.  Aldegonde 
wrote  his  elaborate  work,  "Tableu  des  differens  de  la 
Religion,"  treating  to  a  large  extent  the  same  sub- 
ject, in  which  the  author,  after  the  example  of  Rabe- 
lais, uses  as  skillfully  the  weapon  of  satire.  Never- 
theless, some  authors  maintain  that  the  Bee  Haw  also 
was  translated  into  French.1 

That  St.  Aldegonde,  by  this  work,  advanced  the 
cause  of  Protestantism,  not  only  on  the  Continent 
but  as  well  on  the  British  Isles,  is  without  doubt,  and 
also  that  the  work  had  its  influence  on  the  develop- 
ment of  satire  in  every  language  into  which  it  was 
translated.  And  the  four  English  editions  show 
clearly  enough  that  the  Beehive  of  St.  Aldegonde  was 
a  popular  book  among  English  people. 

1  Edgar  Quinet,  Oeuvres  de  Th.  de  Marnix,  Vol.  IV,  p.  347,  where 
he  quotes  the  work  of  Prins. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

DESCRIPTIONS  OF  VOYAGES.  LUCAS  JANSS  WAGHEN- 
AER,  BERNARD  LANGHENES,  JAN  HUYGHEN  VAN 
LINSCHOTEN,  WILLIAM  CORNELIS  SCHOUTEN,  GER- 
RIT  DE  VEER,  HENDRIK  TOLLENS. 

Descriptions  of  voyages  have  formed  for  centuries 
in  the  most  natural  way  a  typical  part  of  the  litera- 
ture read  by  the  English.  A  nation  destined  to  "rule 
the  waves,"  a  nation  whose  country  is  surrounded  by 
the  sea,  learned  through  all  generations  to  enjoy  voy- 
ages ;  a  nation,  whose  sons  looked  from  their  earliest 
youth  to  the  sea  for  their  future  success  in  life,  must 
enjoy  and  favor  every  kind  of  story  relating  to  the 
bravery  and  the  success,  the  dangers  and  the  trag- 
edies, the  heroism  and  the  sufferings,  of  those  who 
sailed  with  their  ships  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the 
globe,  and  coming  home  brought  with  them  trophies 
of  their  trade  or  their  robberies,  as  well  as  thrilling 
stories  of  their  wonderful  experiences. 

From  the  "Voiage  and  Trevaile"  (13001372)  until- 
the  time  that  the  last  of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty 
volumes  of  the  Hakluyt  Society  was  published,  Eng- 
lish literature  is  full  of  "voyages  and  travels,"  which 
give  abundant  proof  of  this  typical  characteristic  of 
the  English  nation.  Among  these  descriptions  of 
voyages  are  some  translations  from  the  Dutch,  which 
have  played  a  very  important  and  interesting  part,  not 
only  as  a  much  cherished  amusement  for  the  reading 
classes  in  England  but  as  an  incentive  to  the  develop- 

253 


254  DESCRIPTIONS   OF   VOYAGES 

ment  of  English  maritime  power.  Within  the  short 
but  deciding  period,  from  the  year  1590  until  1620,  we 
find  the  following  books,  and  perhaps  others,  trans- 
lated from  the  Dutch: 

(1)  Lucas  Janss  Waghenaer   (1550-1600),  Mari- 
ners Mirrour.    This  book  is  mentioned  by  P.  A.  Tiele 
in  his  introduction  to  The  Voyage  of  John  Huyghen 
Linschoten,  p.  XXVII,  as  a  translation  of  Waghen- 
aer's  Spiegel  der  Seevaert,  published  by  C.  Plantyn, 
Leyden,  1584. 

(2)  Bernard    Langhenes  —  The    description    of    a 
voyage  made  by  certain   Ships  of  Holland  into  the 
East  Indies  —  who  set  forth  on  the  2nd  of  April,  1595, 
and  returned  on  the  I4th  of  August,  1597.     Printed 
by  John  Woolfe,  1598. 

"In  his  dedication  to  this  work,  of  which  the  origi- 
nal was  written  by  Bernard  Langhenes,  Phillip  an- 
nounces a  translation  of  Linschoten's  voyages."1  This 
work  was  translated  by  William  Phillip. 

(3)  John   Huyghen  van  Linschoten,  his  discours 
of  voyages  into  ye  Easte  and  West  Indies.     Devided 
into  foure  books.    Printed  at  London  by  John  Woolfe 
(1598)  ;  on  the  title  pages  of  the  second,  third  and 
fourth  books  of  which  work  the  initials  W.  P.  (Will- 
iam Phillip)  are  given  as  those  of  the  translator. 

"In  the  advertisement  to  the  reader  in  this  work 
(copies  of  which  have  sold  as  high  as  ten  pounds, 
fifteen  shillings)  it  is  stated  that  the  Booke  being 
commended  by  Maister  Richard  Hakluyt,  a  man  that 
laboureth  greatly  to  advance  our  English  name  and 
nation,  the  printer  thought  good  to  cause  the  same 
to  be  translated  into  the  English  tongue."2  Reprinted 
by  the  Hakluyt  Society  in  two  volumes,  London,  1885, 
with  introduction  of  P.  A.  Thiele. 


1  Charles    T.    Beke,    in    his   introduction    to    the    work    of    Gerrit    de 
Veer,    p.    CXXXIX. 

2  Ibid. 


Eoum  nobi$  heic  dat  LynfcottM  Orbcm.), 
Lynfcotunu,  arfifai  jculpta  tabclU  manu. 


DESCRIPTIONS   OF   VOYAGES  255 

(4)  Gerrit  de  Veer — A  true  description  of  three 
voyages    by    the    North-East    towards    Cathay    and 
China,  undertaken  by  the  Dutch  in  the  years   1594, 
1595  and  1596,  published  at  Amsterdam  in  the  year 
1598,  and  in  1609  translated  into  English  by  William 
Phillip. 

This  book  is  reprinted  in  1853 'for  the  Hakluyt. 
Society  and  edited  by  Charles  T.  Beke. 

(5)  William  Cornelison  Schouten.     The  Relation 
of  a  wonderfull  Voyage  made  by  William  Cornelison 
Schouten   of  Home,   Shewing  how   South   from    the 
Straights  of  Magellan  in  Terra  del  Fuego,  he  found 
and    discovered   a   newe   passage   through   the   great 
South    Sea,    and   that   way    seyled    round   about   the 
World — Describing  what    Islands,    Countries,    People 
and  strange  Adventures  he  found  in  his  saicle  Pass- 
age.   London,  imprinted  by  T.  D.  for  Nathaneel  New- 
berry,    1619.     "This   English   edition,"   says  Beke,  is 
exceedingly  rare."1 

Of  these  five  books,  those  of  Van  Linschoten,  De 
Veer  and  Schouten  are  by  far  the  most  important. 

That  of  Langhenes  I  have  found  mentioned  only 
by  Beke  in  his  introduction  to  that  of  De  Veer ;  that 
of  Lucas  Jan  Waghenaer  is  mentioned,  in  the  Dutch 
edition,  by  Van  der  Aa's  Dutch  Biography  under  the 
name  of  Waghenaer. 

That  of  William  Cornelis  Schouten,  however,  who 
died  in  1625,  I  have  found  in  not  less  than  twenty- 
five  editions,  of  which  seventeen  are  in  Dutch,  five 
in  French,  one  in  Latin,  one  in  German  and  one  in 
English.  The  importance  of  this  work  lies  in  what 
is  mentioned  in  the  title  about  the  discovery  of  "a 
newe  passage  through  the  great  South  Sea." 

Far   more   important   is   that   of   De   Veer,   relat- 

1  Charles  T.  Beke  in  his  introduction  to  the  work  of  De  Veer, 
p.  c.,  XXXIX. 


256  DESCRIPTIONS   OF   VOYAGES 

ing  the  three  voyages  by  Dutch  ships  in  1594,  1595 
and  1 596,  which  were  trying  to  find  a  new  passage  to 
China  and  India  through  the  North-East,  around  the 
Northern  coast  of  Russia.  Especially  the  thrilling 
narrative  of  the  third  one  of  these  voyages,  in  which 
William  Barends  was  the  commander,  and  in  which 
this  daring  mariner,  with  his  little  company,  was 
forced  to  stay  a  whole  winter  on  Nova  Sembla,  has 
gained  a  world-wide  fame.  The  struggle  of  these 
stubborn  and  daring  explorers,  against  the  intense 
cold  of  an  arctic  winter,  against  the  attacks  of  polar 
bears  and  against  other  difficulties,  is  so  interesting, 
and  is  described  with  such  a  naive  simplicity,  that  it 
is  retold  in  hundreds  of  books,  and  forever  belongs 
to  the  most  interesting  literature  of  the  kind  in  the 
world.  Gerrit  de  Veer,  himself  one  of  the  little  com- 
pany of  Barends,  describes  the  first  of  the  three  voy- 
ages, as  published  in  the  English  edition  of  the  Hak- 
luyt  Society,  in  thirty-eight  pages,  the  second  voyage 
in  thirty  pages,  while  all  the  rest  of  the  book,  covering 
two  hundred  and  forty-two  pages,  is  devoted  to  the 
third  voyage.  The  building  of  a  cabin,  the  accident 
that  befel  two  of  the  company  who  were  devoured 
by  a  bear,  the  sickness  and  death  of  Barends  himself, 
the  return  in  open  boats  from  Nova  Sembla  to  Kola 
on  the  White  sea,  a  distance  of  about  six  hundred 
miles,  are  some  of  the  most  interesting  parts  of  the 
story.  More  than  two  hundred  years  after  this  voy- 
age, the  Dutch  poet,  Hendrik  Tollens  (1780-1856) 
made  the  story  a  subject  of  one  of  his  poems  ("De 
overwintering  op  Nova  Sembla"),  and  this  poem,  too, 
is  translated  into  English  in  1860  by  "Anglo-Saxon" 
and  entitled:  "The  Hollanders  in  Nova-Sembla — An 
Arctic  poem." 

There  exist  at  least .  three  Dutch  editions  of  the 


DESCRIPTIONS   OF   VOYAGES  257 

work  of  De  Veer,  in  1598,  1605  and  1619;  one  in 
Latin  in  1598,  four  editions  in  French  in  1598,  1599, 
1600  and  1609;  and  one  in  English.  Several  abridg- 
ments of  the  work  are  published  in  German,  one  in 
Latin,  and  one  in  English,  in  the  third  volume  of 
Purchas'  collection.  Short  abstracts  of  the  work  have 
been  published  in  Dutch,  Latin,  German,  French  and 
English,  and  all  these  editions  are  mentioned  in -the 
introduction  to  the  English  edition  as  published  by 
the  Hakluyt  Society  in  1853. 

But  the  most  important  of  all,  is  the  book  of  Van 
Linschoten.  Jan  Huyghen  van  Linschoten  was  born 
at  Haarlem,  probably  in  the  year  1560.  His  portrait 
has:  "Anno  1595  act  32,"  and  this  should  indicate 
as  the  year  of  his  birth  1563.  But  all  the  stories  of 
his  life  tell  that  in  the  year  1576  he  went  to  Spain 
as  a  boy  of  sixteen  years,  which  brings  the  year  of 
his  birth  back  to  1560.  And,  as  it  is  much  more  prob- 
able that  he  left  home  at  sixteen  than  at  thirteen,  I 
rather  believe  that  he  was  born  in  1560.  Probably 
about  the  year  1573,  before  or  after  the  siege  and  con- 
quest of  Haarlem  by  the  Spaniards,  his  parents  moved 
to  Enkhuizen,  one  of  the  first  cities  which  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Sea-Beggars,  and  was  held  for  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  Enkhuizen,  to  day  one  of  the  dead 
cities  on  the  Zuider  Zee,  was  at  that  time  one  of  the 
best  sea  ports  of  the  Netherlands  and  one  of  the  cen- 
ters of  Dutch  trade  and  fishery.  "We  learn  from 
John  that  two  brothers  of  his  some  years  previous  to 
the  year  1576  had  gone  to  Spain  and  established 
themselves  probably  in  business  at  Seville.  In  spite 
of  the  war  between  the  two  nations,  commercial  rela- 
tions were  still  maintained,  and  could  not  well  be 
abandoned  by  either  side,  as  the  Dutch  market  was 
then  indispensable  to  the  prosperity  of  the  Indian 

17 


258  DESCRIPTIONS   OF   VOYAGES 

trade  of  Spain  and  Portugal."1  As  a  boy  of  sixteen 
years,  in  1576,  he  left  the  home  of  his  parents  to 
join  his  brothers  in  Spain,  and  he  did  not  return  to 
Enkhuizen  before  the  year  1592,  "after  an  absence 
of  thirteen  years."2  If  he  really  left  home  in  1576, 
and  returned  in  1592,  his  absence  must 'have  been 
not  thirteen  but  sixteen  years.  But,  however  this 
may  be,  he  stayed  for  six  or  seven  years  in  Spain, 
and  in  Portugal  in  the  house  of  a  merchant  at  Lis- 
bon ;  went  in  1 583  to  India  in  the  suite  of  Vincente 
de  Fonseca,  the  newly  appointed  Archbishop  of  Goa, 
where  the  young  Van  Linschoten  stayed  for  five 
years.  During  the  years  he  spent  in  Spain  and  Portu- 
gal and  in  India,  he  studied  not  only  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  languages,  but  especially  all  the  maps  and 
books  of  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  about  the 
route  to  India,  and  the  countries  of  the  far  East, 
which  at  that  time,  were,  in  great  part,  entirely  un- 
known to  the  Dutch  and  the  English.  And  after  he 
had  returned  to  Enkhuizen  in  1592,  where  he  found 
that  his  father  had  died  long  ago,  but  his  mother, 
brother  and  sister  were  in  good  health,  he  began  to 
compile  all  his  notes  and  maps  for  a  book,  to  which 
he  gave  the  title  of  "Intinerario,"  and  in  which  he 
set  forth  the  precious  information  which  he  had 
gained  in  his  voyages.  This  beok  put  an  end  to  the 
monopoly  which  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  en- 
joyed of  the  trade  with  East  India,  and  became  the 
cause  of  the  establishing  of  the  Dutch,  and  of  the 
English,  East-Indian-Companies.  This  "Itinerario," 
the  great  work  of  Van  Linschoten,  is  divided  into 
three  parts.  The  first  part,  being  the  Itinerario  prop- 
er, is  that  which  in  1885  was  reprinted  by  the  Hakluyt 

1  P.    A.    Thiele,    Introduction    to    "The    Voyage    of   John    Huyghen 
van    Linschoten    to    the    Bast    Indies.      Ed.    Hakluyt    Society,    1885,    p. 
XXIII. 

2  Ibid.,   p.    XXIX. 


DESCRIPTIONS   OF   VOYAGES  259 

Society  in  two  volumes.  For  this  part  the  author 
received  the  assistance  of  Bernard  ten  Broeke,  whose 
name,  after  the  manner  of  the  time,  was  Latinized 
into  Paludanus.  The  second  part,  containing  "a  col- 
lection of  the  routes  to  India,  the  Eastern  seas  and  the 
American  coasts,  was  translated  from  the  manu- 
scripts of  Spanish  and  Portuguese  pilots;  and  is,  in 
particular,  full  of  details  on  the  routes  beyond  Ma- 
lacca, in  the  Malay  Archipelago  and  on  the  Chinese 
coasts.  It  is  by  this  compilation  that  Linschoten  ren- 
dered his  countrymen  the  most  direct  benefit/'1  "The 
third  part  consists  of  a  short  description  of  the  east- 
ern and  western  coasts  of  Africa,  with  a  more  ample 
description  of  America."2  The  maps  of  the  Itinerario 
were  declared  to  be  from  "the  most  correct  charts 
that  the  Portuguese  pilots  nowadays  make  use  of." 
"From  a  careful  comparison  of  some  parts,"  says 
Thiele,  "with  the  earlier  printed  maps,  I  can  affirm 
that  this  claim  is  no  vain  boast,  but  .the  simple  truth."3 
The  second  part,  as  being  most  needed  by  the 
Dutch  and  English,  was  printed  first  of  all  in  1595, 
and  immediately  used  on  voyages  to  India,  before  the 
whole  work  of  Van  Linschoten  was  published  in  1596. 
After  having  so  far  finished  his  work  that  it  was 
ready  for  the  press,  Van  Linschoten  himself  took  part 
in  the  two  first  voyages  around  the  North-East,  de- 
scribed in  the  work  of  Gerrit  de  Veer,  as  mentioned 
above,  but  when  he  had  come  back  from  that  second 
voyage,  he  took  no  further  active  part  in  maritime 
expeditions,  although  his  interest  in  them  remained 
unabated.4  The  flourishing  seaport  of  Enkhuizen 
where  he  found  such  congenial  friends  as  Paludanus, 

IP.    A.    Thiele,    p.    XXX. 

2  Ibid.,   p.   XXXI. 

3  Ibid. 

4  P.  A.  Thiele,  p.  XXXVII. 


260  DESCRIPTIONS   OF   VOYAGES 

and  Lucas  Jansz  Waghenaer,  attracted  him  so  much 
that  he  settled  there,  and  was  appointed  treasurer  of 
the  town.  In  1606  we  find  his  name  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  committee  for  the  establishing  of  a  West- 
India-Company.  He  died  on  the  8th  of  February, 
1611,  at  the  age  of  fifty-one  years. 

His  "Itinerario"  was  in  some  respects  a  revela- 
tion. "After  its  publication,  every  one  learned  that 
the  colonial  empire  of  the  Portuguese  was  rotten,  and 
that  an  energetic  rival  would  have  every  chance  of 
supplanting  them.  Its  importance  met  with  speedy 
and  extensive  recognition.  English  and  German 
translations  were  published  in  1598;  two  Latin  trans- 
lations (one  at  Frankfort  and  one  at  Amsterdam) 
in  1599;  a  French  translation  in  1610.  The  latter  as 
well  as  the  original  Dutch  was  more  than  once  re- 
printed. For  long  the  book  was  constantly  quoted 
as  an  authority."1 

i  Ibid.,  XL. 


CHAPTER  XXX 

RELIGIOUS  LITERATURE.  BROWNISTS,  SEPARATISTS  OR 
INDEPENDENTS,  BAPTISTS,  CONGREGATIONALISTS, 
QUAKERS,  PRESBYTERIANS,  METHODISTS. 

The  influence  of  religious  ideas  and  movements  on 
the  literature  of  a  nation  can  hardly  be  overestimated, 
and  yet  is  often  treated  with  very  moderate  attention. 
In  Dante's  Divine  Comoedia  we  should  not  have  a 
Purgatory  if  Dante  had  not  been  a  Roman  Catholic; 
Voltaire  never  would  have  written  his  many  satires, 
full  of  literary  beauty,  if  he  had  not  been  an  eight- 
eenth century  Rationalist  and  Deist ;  Milton's  Para- 
dise Lost  and  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress  are  in- 
separably connected  with  the  ideas  of  the  Indepen- 
dents, and  with  the  religious  struggle  of  the  different 
Protestant  denominations  in  England  during  the  sev- 
enteenth century.  That  great  religious  struggle  of 
the  Reformation,  as  far  as  the  whole  people  took  part, 
in  it,  developed  in  England  much  later  than  in  Ger- 
many, France,  and  the  Netherlands.  In  the  latter 
countries  it  happened  during-  the  sixteenth  century, 
while  at  that  time  in  England  the  great  event 
was  only  the  establishing  of  the  Anglican  Church. 
But  the  real  Reformation,  among  and  by  the 
masses  of  the  English  people,'  the  real  struggle 
for  Presbyterianism,  for  Congregationalism,  for  the 
Baptist  views,  took  place  in  the  seventeenth  century, 
against  the  Party  of  the  Stuarts.  That  strug- 
gle, although  preparing  its  way  since  the  last 

261 


262  RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE 

part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  found  its  historical 
zenith  in  the  time  of  Cromwell,  and  got  at  last  its  final 
decision  in  the  glorious  Revolution  of  1688  under 
William  III  of  Orange.  Before  the  deciding  period 
of  the  real  Reformation  in  England  arrived,  during  a 
great  part  of  the  sixteenth,  and  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  continual  influence  of  Pro- 
testant ideas  introduced  from  the  Continent,  and  espe- 
cially from  the  Netherlands,  was  working  among  the 
masses  of  the  English  people,  preparing  the  way  for 
the  different  religious  denominations,  which  were  des- 
tined to  play  such  an  important  part  in  later  English 
history,  and  to  find  their  adequate  reflection  in  Eng- 
lish literature.  During  the  persecutions  under 
Charles  V,  beginning  immediately  after  the  edict  of 
Worms  in  1521,  with  the  introduction  of  the  inquisi- 
tion in  the  Netherlands,  thousands  fled  from  that 
country,  and  a  great  part  of  them,  most  of  whom 
were  Anabaptists,  took  refuge  in  England.  At  the 
time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Duke  of  Alva  in  the  Nether- 
lands in  1567,  probably  one  hundred  thousand  people 
fled  from  the  country,  half  of  them  crossing  the  chan- 
nel to  find  safety  in  England.  They  all  settled  at 
London,  and  in  the  eastern  districts  of  England, 
where,  during  centuries,  for  economic  reasons,  Dutch 
settlements  had  existed.  These  thousands  of  Pro- 
testant refugees  were  for  a  great  part  Anabaptists, 
preaching  rejection  of  infant  baptism,  separation 
from  the  established  church,  priesthood  of  all  believ- 
ers, the  formation  of  churches  by  "a  company  of 
Christians  or  believers  who,  by  a  willing  covenant 
made  with  their  God,  are  tinder  the  government  of 
God  and  Christ  and  keep  His  laws  in  one  holy  com- 
munion," as  Robert  Browne  defines  it.  Now  refu- 
gees, who  sacrifice  everything  for  the  principles  they 


RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE  263 

confess,  are  always  the  most  zealous  and  most  suc- 
cessful propagandists,  because  they  show  with  their 
lives  the  sincerity  of  their  preaching.  And  the  mass 
of  the  English  people  was  ripe  for  these  numer- 
ous and  sincere  missionaries  of  Dutch  Protestantism. 
The  University  of  Cambridge,  which  is  nearer  to 
these  eastern  districts  in  England,  -happened  to  be  the 
most  progressive  one,  and  among  its  graduates  we 
soon  find  learned  men,  who  adopted  the  Continental 
Protestant  ideas  of  the  refugees,  and  who  became 
natural  leaders  of  the  new  movement  in  England. 
Robert  Browne  was  the  first  prominent  man  of  the 
kind,  and  after  him  the  first  converted  English  people 
were  called  either  Broimists,  or,  because  they  preached 
separation  from  the  established  church,  Separatists, 
or,  as  they  propagated  the  independency  of  the 
churches  from  the  state,  they  were  also  called  Inde- 
pendents. Among  those  people  who  were  variously 
called  Brownists,  or  Separatists,  or  Independents,  as 
soon  as  they  became  more  numerous,  churches  were 
formed,  to  which  they  themselves  gave  the  names  either 
of  Baptists,  where  they  laid  stress  on  the  rejection  of 
infant  baptism,  or  of  Congregationalists,  where  the 
equality  of  the  members,  and  the  priesthood  of  all 
believers  was  put  in  the  foreground.  It  is  here  that 
we  find  the  first  beginning  of  the  denominations  of 
Baptists  and  Congregationalists,  today  so  numerous 
in  England  and  America. 

Later  we  find  the  rise  of  the  Quakers  under 
George  Fox,  and  William  Penn,  and  still  later  that 
of  the  Methodists,  under  Wesley  and  Whitefield, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  Presbyterians  became  pow- 
erful all  over  England  and  Scotland.  Finally  in  the 
eighteenth  century  we  see  in  England  the  rise  of 
Rationalism  and  Deism,  and  after  that  time  the  de- 
velopment of  Pantheism. 


264  RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE 

It  is  interesting  to  trace  the  influence  of  the  Neth- 
erlands on  the  rise  and  development  of  every  one  of 
these  religious  movements.  To  begin  with  the  Brown- 
ists, those  first,  Separatists  or  Independents,  as  they 
were  called,  we  know  that  Robert  Browne,  after  be- 
ing graduated  from  Cambridge,  began  to  preach,  and 
that  "the  vehemence  of  his  character  gained  him  a 
reputation  with  the  people,"  and  "being  a  fiery,  hot- 
headed young  man,  he  went  about  the  countries  in- 
veighing against  the  discipline  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Church,  and  exhorting  the  people  by  no  means  to 
comply  with  them."1  We  know  that  he  became  the 
founder  of  those  first  Separatist  Churches,  which 
were  called  Brownists,  or  Barrowists.  In  the  year 
1592  the  Brownists  were  estimated  by  Walter  Ral- 
eigh to  number  twenty  thousand2  and  they  were  soon 
divided  into  those  who  called  themselves  Congrega- 
tionalists,  and  others  who  called  themselves  Baptists. 
And  about  this  same  Robert  Browne,  the  founder  of 
the  Separatists  or  Independents,  and  more  especially 
of  the  C on gre Rationalists  and  Baptists,  we  read  that 
after  he  left  Cambridge  University,  he  lived  "for 
about  a  year  among  some  Dutch  emigrants  in  the 
diocese  of  Norfolk,"3  and  that  he,  persecuted  by  the 
bishops,  "retired  with  several  friends  to  Zealand,  at 
Middelburg."  "In  that  then  cradle  of  liberty,  they 
constituted  themselves  into  a  church ;"  and  the  press 
being  unrestrained  in  the  Netherlands,  the  pastor  pub- 
lished his  doctrine  in  a  book  entitled :  "A  book  which 
showeth  the  life  and  Manners  of  all  true  Christians ; 
and  how  unlike  they  are  unto  Turks  and  Papists  and 
Heathen  folk.4  Also  the  Points  and  Parts  of  all  Di- 


1  Daniel    Neal.      The   History   of  the   Puritans.      Vol.    I,   p.    149- 

2  Ibid.,  p.    198. 

3  Benjamin    Hanbury.      Historical    memorials    relating    to    the    Inde- 
pendents  or    Congregationalists.      Vol.    I,   p.    19. 

4  Ibid,    p.    19.      This   book   of    Robert   Browne   was   printed   at   Mid- 
delburg   by    Richard    Painter    in    the    year    1582. 


lACOBUS    AnMINITJS.  OVDE \\rATERJE   TfATUS  Jtt.iSft 

Obiit  Lueduni  Batavorum  .  Vixit  Anno*  4^ . 

tSt  fictdf  ,Ji  ^oct*  manuf ,  (<tLani<p  latorcf  %.oo  'fhfu/cJi  aeirufF,  ~bf  WyfAeff ,  en-  Gtlterinejrt- 

Orbif  martenf.  JtliraaJa. ,  Gftn  Vffft{itrj  ssyn  ran  '"dtt'a&njA ,  ft-  verktfHheyt-, 

Cernitf  tvrrffrtm  errorif,  pietaiis   tlmerem*,  ^Zoa  xie  ifabeett^etn.  bit  yrjr  yon  fi*yn  / 

.tfj^num    vUrtt    .frmtmum  .  tt'ie  't~  Vmrns  yelf^e  torinl  van  ^4rm\ 

lacobvus  Arminixts  tintien.    Oude\vater  j^eboren.  A*    ijoo 
te  Leyden    overlederi    out    z_ynde    ^.q  laren  , 
-----'•--       ^  *  -    -,igb  K^rfinur. 


RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE  265 

vinity,  that  is,  of  the  revealed  Will  and  Word  of  God, 
are  declared  by  their  several  Definitions  and  Divi- 
sions, in  order  as  followeth,  etc."  An  outline  of  this 
fundamental  book  for  all  the  further  development  of 
Congregationalism  and  Baptism  is  given  by  Han- 
bury.1 

So  we  see  that  from  the  very  first  starting  point 
Robert  Browne  adopted  the  ideas  of  the  Dutch  Ana- 
baptist refugees  in  England,  and  developed  his  ideas 
in  founding  the  English  Separatist  Church  at  Middel- 
burg,  where  they  were  protected  by  the  special'  order 
of  William  the  Silent,  and  where  Browne  found  an 
opportunity  to  develop  his  ideas,  to  write  his  books, 
and  have  them  printed,  whence  they  were  spread  over 
England.  In  England  every  endeavor  to  establish  a 
Separatist  congregation  was  prevented,  but  in  the 
Netherlands,  at  Middelburg,  Separatists  found  refuge 
and  protection  as  early  as  the  year  1581.  In  her  deal- 
ings with  the  origins  of  the  powerful  denominations 
of  Congregationalists  and  Baptists,  Queen  Elizabeth 
did  not  show  serself  the  so-often-praised  "Good  Queen 
Beth,"  but  a  bloody,  persecuting  sovereign,  a  woman 
careless  about  religion,  who  swore  like  a  soldier  every 
day,2  while  her  separatist  subjects  sighed  in  prison  or 
were  put  to  death.3  It  was  during  the  last  twenty 
years  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  that  many  of 
the  Separatists  (Brownists,  Independents)  fled  to  the 
Netherlands,  while  after  the  death  of  Elizabeth,  under 
James  I,  many  more  followed  their  example.  Amster- 
dam became,  after  Middelburg,  the  place  of  refuge, 
and  soon  the  greatest  center  of  the  English  Separa- 
tists, and  after  1609  Leyden  also  gave  hospitality  to  a 

1  Hanbury.      I,   p.   20-22. 

2  The  expression  "By  God's  son"  was  always  on  her  lips. 

3  Neal,    I,    201.      The    two    ministers,    Greenwood    and    Penry,    are 
well  known  among  those  first  martyrs  of  English  Independentism. 


266  RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE 

number  of  them,  who  formed  a  congregation  under 
the  well-known  leaders  John  Robinson  and  William 
Brewster.  This  congregation  at  Leyden  was  that  of 
the  Pilgrims,  a  part  of  whom  in  the  year  1620  crossed 
the  ocean  on  the  Mayflower  and  landed  at  Plymouth 
rock.1  Although  the  ideas  of  all  these  English  Sepa- 
ratists did  not  differ  very  much;  and  approached 
those  of  the  Anabaptists,  as  they  were  recognized 
and  taught  by  Memo  Simons  (1492-1559),  their  emi- 
nent leader;  yet  some  of  them  laid  more  stress  upon 
a  congregational  form  of  church  government;  others 
put  in  the  foreground  the  rejection  of  infant  baptism, 
and  other  questions;  and  so  it  happened  that,  under 
their  different  ministers,  they  laid  the  foundations  for 
different  denominations.  The  churches  at  MIDDEL- 
BURG  and  LEYDEN  are  to  be  considered  as  THE  FIRST 
CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES,  while  at  AMSTERDAM  in 
the  year  1611  a  number  of  the  ENGLISH  SEPARATISTS 
CALLED  THEMSELVES  BAPTISTS.  But  as  soon  as  it  was 
safe  to  return  to  England,  these  people  crossed  the 
Channel  again,  and  in  the  year  1611  THE  FIRST  BAP- 
TIST CHURCH  WENT  FROM  AMSTERDAM  TO  ENGLAND, 
while  in  1616  the  First  Congregational  Church  was 
established  in  the  British  Isles. 

The  movement  of  the  Friends,  or,  as  they  soon 
were  called,  the  QUAKERS  began  several  years  later, 
but  was  no  less  under  the  influence  of  Holland  than 
were  the  first  Congregationalists  and  Baptists.  The 
two  great  founders  of  Quakerism  were  George  Fox 
and  William  Penn. 

1  The  history  of  the  Pilgrims  has  been  too  often  told  to  be 
repeated  here,  even  in  an  outline.  See  W.  E.  Griffith.  The  Pilgrims 
in  their  three  homes,  Boston  and  New  York,-  1898;  and  Alexander 
Mackenal,  Homes  and  Haunts  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  London,  1899. 
The  works  of  Neal,  Henry  Dexter,  Samuel  Hopkins,  Bartlett,  Douglas 
Campbell,  and  many  others  on  Puritanism,  Independentism  and  Con- 
gregationalism are  at  hand  in  every  library.  See  also  the  articles  in 
the  Encyclopaedia  Brittanica  on  Independents,  etc. 


RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE  267 

Speaking  of  George  Fox,  the  English  founder  of 
the  sect,  Barclay,  the  best  authority  upon  the  sub- 
ject, himself  a  member  of  the  Society,  says,  in  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  doctrines  of  the  Menonites:  "So 
closely  do  these  views  correspond  with  those  of 
George  Fox,  that  we  are  compelled  to  view  him 
viz.,  Menno  Simons  as  the  unconscious  exponent 
of  the  doctrine,  practice,  and  discipline  of  the 
ancient  and  strict  party  of  the  Dutch  Mennonites,  at 
a  period  when,  under  the  pressure  of  the  times,  some 
deviation  took  place  among  the  General  Baptists  from 
their  original  principles."1  It  is  an  interesting  fact 
in  this  connection  that  Sewel's  History  of  the  Quakers, 
the  pioneer  book  upon  this  subject,  was  written  in 
Dutch.  Sewel  was  born  at  Amsterdam  in  1654,  and 
in  his  family  we  have  the  pedigree  of  the  Quakers. 
His  grandfather  was  an  English  Brownist,  or  Sepa- 
ratist. His  father  became  a  Baptist,  and  so  continued 
until  1657,  when  he  joined  the  Quakers."2. 

To  this  interesting  fact,  mentioned  by  Campbell,  we 
may  add  another  equally  as  interesting  one ;  viz.,  that 
an  English  translation  of  several  works  of  Menno 
Simons  was  published  in  the  year  1863  by  Elias  Barr 
and  Co.,  at  Lancaster  in  Pennsylvania,  the  State  of 
the  Quakers,  and  all  the  works  of  Menno  Simons  were 
translated  into  English  and  published  in  1871  at  Elk- 
hart,  Indiana,  a  state  in  which  many  Quakers  from 
Pennsylvania  have  settled. 

"Thus  it  is,"  says  Campbell,  "that  the  Quakers  of 
England  trace  their  descent  back  through  the  English 
Separatists  to  the  Mennonites  of  Holland.  But  for 
those  of  America  there  is  even  a  closer  connection. 
William  Penn's  mother  was  a  Dutch  woman,  and  a 


1  Barcay's    Inner    Life,    p.    77,    quoted   by   Douglas   Campbell.      The 
Puritans,    II,    207. 

2  Ibid. 


268  RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE 

very  notable  one,  the  daughter  of  John  Jasper  of  Rot- 
terdam, ''Dutch  Peg,"  according  to  Pepy's,  the  charm- 
ing gossip,  had  more  wit  than  her  English  husband, 
who,  at  the  time  of  their  marriage,  was  a  captain  in 
the  navy,  soon  to  become  an  admiral.1  Her  son,  the 
founder  of  Pennsylvania,  was,  like  Roger  Williams,  a 
thorough  Dutch  scholar.  He  had  travelled  extensively 
in  Holland,  and  preached  to  the  Quakers  of  that  conn- 
try  in  their  native  tongue."2 

The  indebtedness  of  the  METHODISTS,  as  adherents 
of  that  great  movement  in  America  which  numbers 
more  than  forty-six  thousand  churches,  are  called,  to 
the  Netherlands,  is  not  less  important,  and  is  recognized 
in  almost  every  book  on  the  history  of  Methodism. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Welsh  branch,  the  Method- 
ists from  the  time  of  Wesley  have  adopted  the  Armin- 
ian  doctrine,  and  from  the  start  found  all  the  sources 
for  their  fundamental  ideas  ready  in  the  elaborate 
works  of  the  Dutch  Arminians.  Holland  was  the 
home  of  Arminiansx  and  of  the  great  struggle  be- 
tween Arminianism  and  Calvinism  which  culminated 
in  the  first  period  in  the  famous  Synod  of  Dordrecht 
in  the  years  1618  and  1619. 

"That  little  country,"  says  Curtiss  in  his  book  on 
Arminianism  in  History,  "on  the  northwest  coast  of 
Europe,  which  had  been  rescued  from  the  sea  by  the 
hard  and  persistent  labor  of  the  people,  was  the  early 
home  of  two  great  classes  of  thought,  founded  upon 
a  solid  basis — Puritanism  and  Arminianism."  The 
great  classic  authors  of  Arminianism  and  consequently 
of  Methodism,  men  like  Jacobus  Arminius,  Simon 
Episcopius,  Hugo  Grotius,  and  many  others,  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Netherlands,  and  their  lives  and  works 

1  Pepy's  Diary,    II.    160,  quoted  by  Campbell.    The  Puritans,    II,    207. 
-  Life     of     William    Penn,     by     Jauney,     Dixon,     etc.,     quoted     by 
Campbell,    II,   208. 


RELIGIOUS  LITERATURE  269 

are  inseparably  connected  with  the  history  of  Hol- 
land. After  the  Synod  of  Dordrecht  in  1618  and  1619, 
the  Arminian  ministers  had  to  leave  the  country,  so 
that  they  became  missionaries  of  Arminianism,  but 
this  banishment,  or  persecution,  as  we  may  call  it,  al- 
though in  a  milder  sense  than  the  word  persecution 
had  in  those  days,  did  not  last  very  long,  and  was 
not  more  severe  than  what  the  Arminian  magistrates 
in  cities  like  Schoonhoven,  Utrecht,  Rotterdam  and 
other  places  had  attempted  before  the  Synod  of  Dord- 
recht. The  political  head  and  leader  of  the  Armin- 
ians  had  even  tried  in  1617  with  his  "Sharp  resolve/' 
to  raise  troops  for  the  Province  of  Holland  against 
the  States  General,  and  so  really  to  break  the  union 
of  the  state  in  a  period  when  that  union  was  more 
necessary,  than  it  was  for  the  United  States  at  the 
time  of  the  civil  war.  We  must  therefore  not  be  sur- 
prised, when  immediately  after  the  Synod  of  Dordt, 
which  was  a  triumph  of  the  Calvinists  over  the  Ar- 
minians,  at  least  for  a  short  time,  some  measures  were 
taken  against  the  Arminians.  Very  soon  the  Remon- 
strant ministers  were  admitted  again  to  the  country, 
and  in  1634  a  Remonstrant's  College  was  opened  at 
Amsterdam,  which  college  became  a  great  nursery  for 
Arminian  theology,  where  several  of  the  best  Armin- 
ian scholars  laid  the  foundations  for  the  great  Armin- 
ian movement,  which  later  developed  in  England  and 
America.  There  in  Amsterdam  we  find  the  promi- 
nent Arminian  professors  and  scholars,  Simon  Episco- 
pius,  Stephanus  Curcellseus,  Arnold  Poelenburg,  Philip 
Limborch,  John  Le  Clerc,  Adrian  van  Cattenburgh, 
and  John  James  Wettstein. 

In  most  books  on  the  history  of  Arminianism,  little 
stress  is  laid  on  the  name  of  one  man  who,  however, 
played  a  very  important  part  in  the  movement,  the 


270  RELIGIOUS  LITERATURE 

man  who  really  converted  and  strengthened  Jacobus 
Arminius,  at  a  time  when  Arminius  himself  was 
sceptical  and  hesitant  about  which  direction  to  take,  on 
those  questions  which  later  on  divided  the  Calvinists 
from  the  Arminians.  This  man  was  Dirk  Volkerts 
Coornhert,  who,  therefore,  deserves  the  title  of  spirit- 
ual father  of  Arminianism.  Coornhert  was  a  great 
scholar  and  a  man  of  great  literary  and  philosophical 
ability,  who,  in  the  most  troublesome  time  of  the  great 
struggle  for  liberty,  took  a  place  of  honor.  Born  at 
Amsterdam  in  1522,  he  studied  several  languages, 
French,  Spanish,  Greek  and  Latin ;  was  personally  ac- 
quainted with  William  the  Silent,  who  in  1567  invited 
him  to  his  castle  Dillenburg,  to  advise  him  about  the 
situation  in  the  Netherlands;  he  suffered  exile  and 
even  imprisonment  from  the  Spaniards,  while  his  wife 
horror-stricken,  died  of  the  plague;  held  about  the 
same  broadminded  ideas  of  toleration  even  towards 
Roman  Catholics  in  Protestant  cities,  which  were  held 
by  the  Prince  of  Orange ;  and  as  far  as  Arminianism 
is  concerned,  had  several  disputes,  and  even  public 
debates,  with  Calvanistic  ministers,  amongst  others 
with  Professor  Saravia  of  the  Leyden  University,  long 
before  Arminius  appeared  on  the  stage  of  history. 
And  when  Arminius,  at  that  time  still  estimated  as  a 
good  Calvinist,  and  a  great  scholar,  was  appointed 
to  try  to  convert  Coornhert,  it  happened  that  the  old 
well-trained  scholar  and  philosopher,  was  a  too  power- 
ful match  for  the  young  Arminius,  who,  instead  of 
converting  Coornhert,  was  himself  converted  to  the 
principles  of  Coornhert.  This  spiritual  father  of  Ar- 
minius, and  of  Arminianism,  died  at  Gonda  in  the 
year  1590.  In  the  Dutch  national  biography  of  Van 
der  Aa  is  given  a  list  of  forty-four  books  and  pamph- 
lets, political,  theological,  and  literary,  written  by 


RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE  271 

Coornhert,  too  many  to  be  repeated  here.  Since  the 
days  of  Coornhert  and  Arminius,  the  line  of  Arminian 
scholars  has  never  been  interrupted,  and  since  Wesley 
started  his  movement  in  England,  and  Methodism 
spread  all  over  England  and  America,  the  Arminian 
scholars  have  always  found  and  will  always  find,  in 
the  Netherlands,  not  only  the  cradle  of  Arminianism, 
but  also  the  great  classics  of  Arminianism,  to  whose 
scholarly  investigations  they  have  to  go  back,  to  find 
out  that  nowadays  there  is  not  much  that  is  new  under 
the  sun. 

In  his  book  on  Arminianism  in  History,  George  L. 
Curtiss,  on  p.  70,  makes  a  statement  that  has  a  strange 
sound  to  those  who  are  acquainted  with  Dutch  his- 
tory, and  especially  with  the  struggle  between  Cal- 
vinism and  Arminianism.  He  says:  "The  Calvinists 
demanded  the  support  of  the  State  and  that  there 
should  not  be  toleration  of  other  sentiments;  the  Ar- 
minians  demanded  that  there  should  be  perfect  tolera- 
tion, and  that  the  State  should  not  decide  the  one  or 
the  other  as  being  true."  This  statement  is  not  true 
to  history.  The  author  himself  knows  it,  and  shows 
that  he  knows  better,  when  he  writes  on  page  154; 
"The  Arminians,  while  denying  predestination,  pro- 
claimed a  practical  theory  which  was  more  important 
to  the  people  than  any  gone  before  in  the  struggle  to 
found  a  republic.  They  claimed  that  in  religious  mat- 
ters the  State  was  supreme,  that  it  should  appoint  the 
ministers,  and  that  it  alone  should  have  the  regula- 
tion of  Church  discipline  and  dogma."  The  truth  is 
that  all  parties  and  all  denominations  at  that  time, 
Roman  Catholics,  Calvinists  and  Arminians  were  in- 
tolerant, that  none  of  them  believed  in  equal  freedom 
for  every  denomination,  and  that  they  all  claimed  the 
power  of  the  State  to  give  their  own  denomination  the 


272  RELIGIOUS  LITERATURE 

predominant  place  and  to  suppress  every  other  opin- 
ion. Only  very  few  men  were  far  enough  ahead  of 
their  time  to  declare  themselves  in  favor  of  real  tolera- 
tion. William  the  Silent,  the  father  of  his  country, 
and  Coornhert,  the  father  of  Arminianism,  are  two 
examples  of  men  who  stood  for  toleration  in  a  very 
early  period  of  the  great  struggle,  and  they  were  great 
exceptions.  The  fact  is  that  as  far  as  the  practical 
application  of  the  principle  of  toleration  is  concerned, 
there  was  not  a  state  in  the  world  during  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries,  where  a  greater  freedom 
and  toleration  was  given  to  every  denomination  than 
the  Reformed  State  of  the  Netherlands ;  consequently 
the  refugees  from  all  countries  fled  to  the  Nether- 
lands. 

And  another  surprising  fact  is,  that,  even  till  in 
our  present  time,  the  principle  of  intolerance  has  been 
maintained  in  Art.  36  of  the  Confession  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church,  and  even  in  the  Confession  of  the 
free  reformed,  or  Separatist-churches  in  Holland, 
notwithstanding  the  gravamina  of  the  most  promi- 
nent theologians  against  that  article,  a  fact  very  inter- 
esting from  a  psychological  .point  of  view.  At  a  time 
when  the  fundamental  ideas  of  Arminianism,  and 
consequently  of  Methodism,  were  still  in  their  first 
period  of  growth,  there  was  a  fully-developed  set  of 
principles,  inspiring  the  life  of  hundreds  of  churches 
in  France,  in  Holland,  in  England,  and  in  Scotland. 
These  principles,  first  systematically  explained  in  the 
Institutes  of  John  Calvin,  were  then  adopted  by  the 
Huguenots  in  France,  by  the  Reformed  in  the  Nether- 
lands, and  by  THE  PRESBYTERIANS  in  England  and 
Scotland.  These  principles  were  called  CALVINISM 
after  the  great  leader  of  the  movement,  John  Calvin, 
just  as  Arminianism  later  on  was  so  named  after  Ar- 


RELIGIOUS   LITERATURE  273 

minius.  And  this  movement  too  had  its  greatest 
stronghold  for  a  long  time  in  the  Netherlands.  At 
a  time  when  the  Huguenots  in  France,  and  the  Puri- 
tans, later  the  Presbyterians  in  England  and  Scotland, 
were  subject  to  the  severest  persecutions,  the  Re- 
formed Churches  in  the  Netherlands  were  flourishing. 
Refugees  from  France  and  from  England  fled  to  the 
hospitable  shores  of  the  United  Provinces,  and  found 
there  the  full  development  and  practice  of  the  same 
principles,  which  the  persecuting  powers  in  France 
and  in  England  were  trying  to  extirpate.  In  that 
Calvinism  was,  according  to  the  best  historians,1  the 
strength  of  the  resistance  of  Holland,  in  its  struggle 
against  Spain.  The  famous  National  Synod  of  Dordt 
in  1618  and  1619  was  Calvinistic  through  and 
through,  and  at  the  same  time  the  only  real  ecumenic 
counsel  of  the  Protestant  churches  ever  held,  as  it  in- 
cluded delegates  from  churches  of  all  the  nations 
where  Calvinistic  Protestantism  had  got  any  foot- 
hold, except  the  French  churches,  whose  seats  in  the 
Synod  remained  empty,  because  the  French  king  did 
not  allow  them  to  be  represented.  That  Synod  was 
the  forerunner,  and  the  foundation  of  the  great  West- 
minster Assembly  held  twenty  years  later.  Tt  was 
not  only  by  this  Synod  of  Dordt,  and  by  Dutch  influ- 
ence on  refugees,  but  especially  by  the  great  number 
of  scholars  and  professors  in  the  Dutch  Universities 
that  Holland  took  a  leading  part  in  the  development 
of  Presbyterianism.  The  Universities  of  Leyden, 
founded  in  1574,  Utrecht,  founded  in  1636,  Groningen, 
founded  in  1614,  and  Franeker,  founded  in  1624,  were 
the  strongholds  of  Calvinism ;  and  many  students 
from  England  came  to  the  Netherlands,  especially  to 


1  On  this  point  all  the  best  historians  of  Holland,  as  Groen  van 
Prinsterer  and  Robert  Fruin,  Bakhuizen  van  den  Brink  and  Blok, 
a^ree. 

18 


274  RELIGIOUS  LITERATURE 

Leyden,  to  follow  the  courses,  and  to  imbibe  the  re- 
publican and  Calvinistic  spirit  prevailing  in  "the  Low 
Countries/'  Books  by  Dutch  professors  were  com- 
monly written  in  Latin,  the  international  language  of 
the  scholars  of  that  time,  so  that  the  Dutch  language 
presented  no  obstacle  at  all.  By  the  agency  of  Eng- 
lish ministers,  among  whom  were  many  good  schol- 
ars, Dutch  Calvinism  and  closely  connected  with  it, 
Dutch  republicanism,  and  democracy,  entered  into  the 
English  churches,  into  the  life  and  the  spirit  of  the 
English  people,  and  were  reflected  in  English  litera- 
ture. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

SHAKESPEARE'S  ROMEO  AND  JULIET.  JACOBUS  STRUYCK. 
THE  MORALITY  PLAYS  IN  THE  NETHERLANDS 

In  Modern  Philology  of  July,  1906,  Mr.  Harold 
de  Wolf  Fuller  published  an  extensive  article  on  Ro- 
meo and  Juliet,  on  the  first  page  of  which  he  says : 
"At  the  present  time,  the  only  recognized  sources  of 
Shakespeare's  Romeo  and  Juliet  are  Arthur  Brooke's 
long  poem,  Romeus  and  Juliet  published  in  1562,  and 
William  Painter's  novel,  contained  in  his  Palace  of 
Pleasures,  1 566-67,  both  of  these  works  being  based 
directly  on  a  French  novel  by  Boaistuau,  written  in 
1559.  Painter's  story  is  merely  a  close  prose  trans- 
lation, whereas  the  poem  shows  a  much  freer  handling 
of  its  original ;  of  the  two  productions,  it  was  chiefly 
from  the  poem  that  Shakespeare  drew  his  material. 
But  in  addition  to  these  two  sources,  there  seems  to 
have  existed  once  in  England  a  pre-Shakespearian 
play  on  this  subject.  Brief  mention  of  it  is  made  in 
the  address  to  the  reader  which  Brooke  prefixed  to 
his  poem.  He  says :  "Though  I  saw  the  same  argu- 
ment lately  set  forth  on  stage  with  more  commenda- 
tion than  I  can  look  for  (being  there  much  better  set 
forth  than  I  have  or  can  do)  yet  the  same  matter 
penned  as  it  is,  may  serve  the  like  good  effect."  Un- 
fortunately, this  play  seems  to  have  been  short-lived 
in  England,  for  no  other  explicit  reference  to  it  has 
been  found,  and,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  it  is  no 
longer  extant.  The  important  part,  therefore,  which 

275 


276       SHAKESPEARE'S   ROMEO   AND   JULIET 

it  may  have  played  in  the  history  of  the  drama,  and 
the  influence  which  it  may  have  exerted  on  Shakes- 
peare have  remained  hitherto  matters  of  profitless 
speculation.  "But  though  this  play  in  its  original  form 
be  irrevocably  lost,  we  shall  find,  I  think,  that  it  has 
been  fairly  well  preserved  in  a  foreign  application ; 
namely,  in  the  Romeo  en  Juliette,  a  Dutch  play  in 
Alexandrine  couplets  by  Jocob  Struys,  written  about 
I630."1 

Mr.  De  Wolf  Fuller  tells  us  nothing  more  about 
Jacob  Struys,  and  indeed  not  much  is  known  about 
him ;  only  that  he  was  a  playwright  in  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  wrote  the  following 
plays:  Alb  onus  and  Rosamunde,  Amsterdam,  1631; 
Rape  of  Proserpina,  with  the  wedding  of  Pluto,  Am- 
sterdam, 1634;  Styrus  and  Ariane,  Amsterdam,  1642; 
Romeo  and  Juliette,  Amsterdam,  1634;  and  Het  Am- 
deramsch  Juffertje  (The  young  lady  of  Amsterdam), 
1633.  All  these  plays  are  written  in  Dutch.2 

The  Romeo  and  Juliette  was  written  not  only 
"about  1630,"  as  De  Wolf  Fuller  says,  but  more  ac- 
curately in  1634,  and  was  played  on  the  stage  at 
Christmas  of  the  same  year  at  Amsterdam. 

In  his  extensive  article,  Mr.  De  Wolf  Fuller  has 
succeeded  in  showing  us,  that  according  to  Arthur 
Brooke's  statement,  there  must  have  been  a  play  on 
the  subject  Romeo  and  Juliet,  and  that  probably  this 
play  has  been  preserved  in  the  later  application  of  the 
theme  by  Jacob  Struys. 

But  Arthur  Brooke  does  not  tell  us  where  he  saw 
it  on  the  stage ;  whether  in  England,  or  in  Flanders, 
wh'ere  during  the  time  before  Shakespeare  morality 
plays  were  very  popular.  He  does  not  tell  us  whether 
the  play,  as  he  saw  it,  was  in  English  or  in  Dutch. 

1  Modern    Philology,    July,    1906,    p.    i. 

2  Van   der   Aa.      Biographical   Woordenboek,   in   voce   Jacob    Struys. 


SHAKESPEARE'S  ROMEO   AND   JULIET       277 

And  it  is  a  possibility  that  the  original  was  written  in 
Dutch,  as  in  the  case  of  "Elckerlyck  and  Everyman." 
The  enormous  number  of  plays  written  in  Flanders, 
and  in  Holland  during  the  fifteenth  century,  the  bril- 
liant "land  jewels"  in  the  cities^  of  the  Netherlands, 
where  sometimes  more  than  thirty  "chambers  of  rhet- 
oric" went  into  competition ;  th'e  great  number  of 
playwrights,  one  of  whom,  by  the  name  of  Mathys  de 
Casteleyne,  wrote  more  than  a  hundred  plays,  and  in 
general  the  whole  civilization  in  which  especially  the 
Southern  Netherlands  were  far  ahead  of  England, 
make  us  feel  as  if  we,  looking  for  the  sources  of 
Shakespearian  plays,  might  find  some  material  to  help 
us  among  the  mass  of  plays  produced  in  the  Low 
Countries. 

The  able  article  of  De  Wolf  Fuller  has  brought  us 
as  far  as  Jacob  Struys;  he  has  brought  us  to  the 
Netherlands,  and  we  have  to  wait  for  somebody,  who 
as  in  the  case  of  Elckerlyck  and  Everyman,  can  trace 
the  story  further  back  and  perhaps  bring  us  to  more 
discoveries  of  the  same  kind. 

In  the  fifteenth,  and  at  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  general  probability  is  in  favor  of  a 
source  in  the  Southern  Netherlands,  on  account  of  the 
great  superiority  of  civilization  there  at  that  time. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

PHILIP  SIDNEY 

Hardly  any  place  in  the  Netherlands  is  more  in- 
teresting, more  tragic,  and  more  sacred  to  travelers, 
who  are  acquainted  with  English  literature,  than  the 
spot  on  the  heath  near  Zutphen,  where  on  the  chilly 
and  misty  morning  of  September  22,  1586,  Sir  Philip 
Sidney  was  fatally  wounded,  while  fighting  beside  the 
Dutch  sons  of  liberty,  against  the  soldiers  of  the  Span- 
ish tyrant.     Splendid  is  Sir  Philip  Sidney's  name  in 
English  literature,  everla'sting  is  the  admiration  of  the 
civilized  world  for  the  author  of  the  Defense  of  Poe- 
try and  of  Arcadia,  but  more  than  that  is  the  wonder- 
ful halo  that  surrounds  his  name  by  reason  of  his 
lovely,  and  beautiful  character,  and  the  noble  spirit 
with  which  without  fear  he  stood  for  the  best  cause 
in  literature,  as  well  as  on  the  battlefield.    It  was  that 
last  cause,  the  deadly  struggle  for  liberty,  that  for- 
ever connected  the  name  of  Sidney  with  that  of  the 
Netherlands.     Eight  years  before  his   death,   Sidney 
was  sent  by  his  Queen  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  at 
Delft  to  compliment  him  on  the  birth  of  his  son,  and 
during  that  visit  the  Prince  received  such  a  noble  im- 
pression of  him,  that  later  on  he  sent  the  English  em- 
bassador  Fulke  Granville  to  Queen  Elizabeth  to  report 
to  her  his  opinion  "that  her  Majesty  had  one  of  the 
ripest  and  greatest  counsellors  of  estate  in  Sir  Philip 
Sidney  that  at  this  day  lived  in  Europe ;  to  the  trial 
of  which  he  was  pleased  to  leave  his  own  credit  en- 

278 


PHILIP  SIDNEY  279 

gaged  until  her  Majesty  might  please  to  employ  this 
gentleman  either  amongst  her  friends  or  enemies."1. 
At  the  time  Sidney  traveled  through  Germany  and 
France,  he  enjoyed  the  company  of  Hubert  Languet, 
for  a  time  the  private  secretary  of  the  Prince  of  Or- 
ange, and  most  probably  the  author  of  the  famous 
"Vindiciae  contra  Tyrannos,"  and  perhaps  even  the 
author  of  the  "Apology"  of  the  Prince  against  Philip 
the  Second.  When,  during  the  last  year  of  his  life 
Sidney  was  governor  of  Flushing,  he  had  under  his 
command  the  young  Roger  Williams,  about  whom  he 
writes  to  his  uncle  Leicester,  at  that  time  Governor 
of  the  Netherlands :  "Roger  Williams  beseechest  your 
Excellency  to  pass  him  his  sergeant-ma jorship  gen- 
eral, with  such  allowance  as  shall  seem  good  unto  you. 
Of  all  nations  they  do  desire  him ;  he  is  fain  to  be 
at  charge  at  Berghen.  Your  Excellency  shall  take 
care  of  few  men  that  more  bravely  deserve  it,  as  I 
hope  he  will."2. 

One  of  his  songs,  which  was  probably  written 
during  his  abode  in  the  Netherlands,  bears  the  in- 
scription :  Song  "To  the  tune  of  Wilhelmus  van  Nas- 
sauc,"  the  Dutch  national  hymn  written  by  Marnix 
van  Sint  Aldegonde,  who  at  that  time  was  at  Middel- 
burg  under  the  protection  of  Sydney,  and  whom  he 
mentions  in  his  letters  to  Leicester.  Sidney  knew  what 
it  meant  to  stand  at  the  side  of  William  the  Silent, 
and  td  fight  for  the  cause  of  liberty  after  that  great 
prince  had  been  murdered.  He  was  himself  in  Paris 
during  the  horrible  night  of  St.  Bartholomew,  on  Au- 
gust 24,  1572;  his  own  eyes  had  seen  the  massacre 
of  the  Huguenots.  Nobody  was  more  true  to  his 
queen,  nobody  more  frank  with  her,  and  from  nobody 

1  J.    A.    Symonds,    Life   of  Sidney,    p.    41. 

2  William    Gray,    The    Miscellaneous    Works    of    Sir   Philip   Sidney, 
p.    376. 


280  PHILIP   SIDNEY 

else  would  Queen  Elizabeth  have  accepted  such  frank- 
ness; so  that  in  the  most  critical  moments,  as  for  in- 
stance when  the  queen  had  almost  accepted  the  hand 
of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  Sidney's  advice  was  more 
courageous  and  more  influential,  than  that  of  any  one 
else.  He  had  a  personal  acquaintance  with  almost  all 
the  leaders  of  Protestant  Europe;  he  saw  the  deadly 
struggle  in  all  its  immensity ;  in  his  breast,  as  in  that 
of  William  the  Silent,  beat  the  very  heart  of  Protest- 
antism, and  when  he  fell  in  battle,  it  was  a  loss,  not 
only  for  England,  and  for  the  Netherlands,  but  for 
the  cause  of  Protestantism  as  a  whole.  He  died  at 
the  moment  when  more  than  ever  before  he  was  unit- 
ing his  own  life  and  fate  with  that  of  the  Dutch  peo- 
ple, in  their  heroic  struggle  for  freedom  and  tolera- 
tion. 

The  people  in  the  Netherlands  had  great  confidence 
in  Philip  Sidney  and  after  his  death  they  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  keep  his  body,  and  promised  to  erect  a  royal 
monument  to  his  memory,  "Yea,  though  the  same 
should  cost  half  a  ton  of  gold  in  the  building."  But 
this  petition  was  rejected.  His  body  was  brought 
over  to  England  in  a  ship,  called  occasionally  the 
Black  Prince,  and  buried  with  pomp  in  St.  Paul's 
cathedral.  And  the  whole  nation  went  into  mourn- 
ing, and  for  many  months  it  was  counted  a  sin  for 
any  gentleman  of  quality  to  appear  at  Court,  or  in 
the  City,  in  any  light  or  gaudy  apparel.1 

"Sidney's  death  sent  a  thrill  through  Europe.  Lei- 
cester, who  truly  loved  him,  wrote  in  words  of  pas- 
sionate grief  to  Walsingham ;  Elizabeth  declared  that 
she  had  lost  her  mainstay  in  the  struggle  with  Spain ; 
Duplessis-Mornay  bewailed  his  loss  not  for  England 
only,  but  for  all  Christendom"2  and  the  common  peo- 

1 J.    A.    Symonds,  Sir  Philip   Sidney,   p.    174  and    175. 
2  Idem.,   p.    173. 


PHILIP  SIDNEY  281 

pie  remembered  his  love  and  kindness  towards  them, 
by  his  last  words  to  one  of  his  dying  soldiers  on  the 
battlefield,  when  he  himself,  deadly  wounded,  called 
for  drink,  but  seeing  the  soldier,  gave  the  bottle  to 
him  with  the  everlasting  words :  "Thy  necessity  is 
greater  than  mine" 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

TRACTS  RELATING  THE  EXECUTION  OF  JOHN  OF  OLD- 
ENBARNEVELT  IN  1619.  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  SlR 
JOHN  VAN  OLDEN  BARNEVELT,  A  PLAY  CALLED 
THE  JEWELLER  OF  AMSTERDAM. 

During  the  centuries  in  which  the  Netherlands 
played  their  greatest  part  in  the  world's  history,  all 
the  nations  of  Europe  took  interest  in  what  happened 
in  Holland.  In  many  cases  pamphlets  were  written 
in  English,  in  French,  and  in  German,  and  sent  abroad 
to  spread  the  news  of  what  happened  in  Holland 
among  the  people  in  England,  France,  and  Germany. 
From  these  pamphlets  the  narratives  often  entered  into 
literary  circles,  where  they  were  taken  up  as  subjects 
for  all  kinds  of  literary  productions.  So  it  happened 
in  the  year  1619;  at  a  time,  when  according  to  R. 
Boyle  "Englishmen  took  more  interest  in  Holland 
than  in  any  other  country  in  Europe."1  In  May  of 
that  year,  one  of  the  most  tragic  events  in  the  history 
of  the  Dutch  Republic  took  place.  The  old,  and  in 
many  respects  eminent,  statesman  John  of  Olden- 
barnevelt,  accused  and  convicted  of  high  treason,  was 
beheaded  at  the  Hague,  after  a  splendid  and  hardly 
ever  equalled  career  as  Pensionary  of  the  States  of 
Holland.  Everybody  knows  the  story,  at  least  so  far 
as  the  great  merit  of  the  Pensionary,  and  the  fact  of 
his  execution  is  concerned,  and  therefore  it  would  be 
out  of  place  to  tell  it  here  again  at  length.  Interesting 

1A.  H.  Sullen,  A  Collection  of  Old  English  Plays,  Vol.  II,  p.  434. 
in  an  Appendix  written  by  R.  Boyle. 

282 


JOHN  OF  OLDENBARNEVELT  EXECUTED      283 

for  our  present  purpose  is  the  fact,  that,  immediately 
after  the  execution  three  different  pamphlets  in  the 
English  language  were  written  and  spread  abroad  in 
England : 

1.  Barnavelt's    Apologie,    or    Holland's    Hysteria, 
with  marginal  castigations  by  Robert  Houlderus,  Min- 
ister of  the  Word  of  God.     I6I8.1  ' 

2.  Newes  out  of  Holland — Concerning  Barnavelt 
and  his  fellow-prisoners,  their  conspirary  against  their 
Native  Country  with  the  enemies  thereof — The  Ora- 
tion and  Propositions  made  in  their  behalf  unto  the 
General  States  of  the  United  Provinces  at  the  Hague 
by  the  Ambassadours  of  the  French  King,  etc.    1619. 

3.  The  Arraignment  of  John  van  Olden  Barnevelt, 
late  Advocate  of  Holland  and  West  Friesland.     Con- 
taining the  articles  alleged  against  him  and  the  rea- 
sons of  his  execution    1619. 

Probably  in  the  main  by  these  pamphlets,  the  story 
of  Oldenbarnevelt  made  an  impression  in  England, 
with  the  result  that  within  three  months  after  the 
execution  of  Oldenbarnevelt  a  tragedy  was  written 
and  played  in  London  by  the  King's  company  acting 
at  Blackfriars,  under  the  title :  "The  tragedy  of  Sir 
John  of  Olden  Barnavelt."  This  play  was,  so  far  as 
we  know,  never  printed  during  the  I7th  century,  and 
was  later  entirely  forgotten,  until,  in  the  year  1851, 
the  British  Museum  purchased  the  original  manu- 
script, "a  folio  of  thirty-one  leaves,  written  in  a  small 
clear  hand,"  from  the  Earl  of  Denbigh.  At  the  Brit- 
ish Museum  Mr.  A.  H.  Bullen  found  it,  and  published 
it  in  Vol.  II  of  his  collection  of  Old  English  Plays, 
IV  Vols.  London,  1883.  The  edition  is  printed  only 
in  one  hundred  and  fifty  copies  "on  Dutch  Hand-made 

1  A.  H.  Bullen,  1.  e.,  p.  205.  If  the  year  1618,  as  Bullen  gives 
it,  is  right,  then  of  course  this  pamphlet  cannot  yet  describe  the  execu- 
tion, but  only  the  great  struggle  that  preceded  it. 


284      JOHN  OF  OLDENBARNEVELT  EXECUTED 

paper,"  so  that  even  now,  after  it  has  been  published, 
the  play  would  be  pretty  rare,  were  it  not  that  the 
great  Dutch  historian,  Robert  Fruin,  has  reprinted  it 
in  the  original  English  language,  with  an  introduction 
in  Dutch  :  Gravenhage.  Martinus  Nyhoff,  1884.  Both 
Bullen  and  Fruin,  as  well  as  other  competent  judges 
in  England  and  in  Holland,  are  enthusiastic  in  valuing 
this  tragedy  as  a  masterpiece  of  dramatic  literature. 
"It  is  curious,"  says  Bullen,  "that  it  should  have  been 
left  to  the  present  editor  to  call  attention  to  a  piece 
of  such  extraordinary  interest ;  for  I  have  no  hesita- 
tion in  predicting  that  Barnavelt's  Tragedy,  for  its 
splendid  command  of  fiery  dramatic  rhetoric,  will 
rank  among  the  masterpieces  of  English  dramatic 
literature."1  Another  English  author  and  scholar  in 
dramatic  poetry,  F.  G.  Fleay,  calls  it  a  "magnificent 
play,"  while  Robert  Boyle,  not  less  competent  in  this 
field  of  literature,  says :  "This  play,  the  most  valuable 
Christmas  present  English  scholars  have  for  half  a 
century  received,  appears  indubitably  to  belong  to  the 
Massinger  and  Fletcher  series.  Even  a  cursory  glance 
will  convince  the  reader  that  it  is  one  of  the  greatest 
treasures  of  our  dramatic  literature.  That  such  a  gem 
should  lie  in  manuscript  for  over  two  hundred  years, 
should  be  catalogued  in  our  first  library,  should  be 
accessible  to  the  eye  of  the  prying  scholar,  and  yet 
never  even  be  noticed  till  now,  affords  a  disagreeable 
but  convincing  proof  of  the  want  of  interest  in  our 
early  literature  displayed  even  by  those  whose  studies 
in  this  field  would  seem  to  point  them  out  for  the 
work  of  rescuing  these  literary  treasures  from  a  fate 
as  bad  as  that  which  befell  those  plays  which  perished 
at  the  hands  of  Warburton's  accursed  menial."2  Swin- 


1  A.    H.    Bullen.      Introduction. 

2  Ed.    A.    H.    Bullen,    p.    434.      It    is   interesting    that   in   this    play 
the   Netherlands   are   called   "the    United   States,"   p.   306. 


JOHN  OF  OLDENBARNEVELT  EXECUTED   285 

burne  calls  it :  "so  noble  a  poem,  this  newly  unearthed 
treasure."  Fruin,  the  Dutch  historian  and  editor  of 
the  play,  after  having  made  some  critical  remarks, 
says  that  the  tragedy  Palaniedes,  treating  the  same 
historical  theme,  written  by  Vondel,  the  prince  of 
Dutch  poets,  may  not  be  compared  with  it,  and  that 
it  is  not  a  shame  for  Vondel  to  be'  beaten  by  such  a 
competitor."1  Fruin  was  also  the  man  who  solved  the 
question  of  the  date  at  which  the  play  was  written. 
This  question  had  been  solved  by  Bullen  only  so  far 
as  to  prove  that  it  was  written  between  May,  1619, 
the  date  of  the  execution  of  Oldenbarnevelt,  and  the 
year  1622,  the  year  in  which  George  Buc,  who  signed 
it  in  a  marginal  note  with  his  initials,  resigned  as 
"master  of  the'  revels."  But  Fruin  fixed  the  date  of 
the  play  much  more  exactly  from  two  unpublished 
letters  written  by  Thomas  Locke  from  London  to 
the  English  ambassador,  Sir  Dudley  Carleton,  at  the 
Hague.  The  first  letter  is  dated  August  14,  1619, 
and  therein  it  is  said :  "The  players  here  were  bring- 
ing "of  Barnavelt"  upon  the  stage  and  had  bestowed 
a  great  deal  of  money  to  prepare  all  things  for  the 
purpose,  but  at  th'  instant  were  prohibited  by  my 
Lo — of  London."  The  second  letter  was  dated 
August  27th,  in  which  it  is  said :  "Our  players  have 
found  the  means  to  goe  through  with  the  play  of 
Barnevelt,  and  it  had  many  spectators  and  received 
applause."  Consequently  the  play  must  have  been 
written  between  May,  1619,  the  date  of  Oldenbarne- 


1  R.  Fruin,  Verspreide  geschriften,  Vol.  IX,  p.  122.  On  p.  125 
Fruin  gives  six  Dutch  words  used  in  the  play  by  the  English  author, 
viz.:  schellain  (Dutch  schelm),  the  bree  (brui),  lustique  (lustig), 
kremis  (kermis),  doyt  (duit),  and  vroa  (vrouw).  In  the  main  the 
play  is  true  to  history  in  so  far  as  it  lays  full  stress  on  the  point 
that  Oldenbarnevelt  tried  to  break  the  union  of  the  state  (p.  226, 
286  and  291)  at  a  time  when  the  other  party  certainly  might  claim: 
"The  union  must  be  preserved."  It  is  more  true  to  history  than 
Motley's  book,  Life  and  Death  of  Oldenbarnerelt.  See  Grqen  van 
Prinsterer,  Maurice  et  Barnevelt,  the  best  book  on  this  question. 


286      JOHN  OF  OLDENBARNEVELT  EXECUTED 

velt's  execution,  and  August  14,  1619,  the  time  when 
the  players  were  ready  to  bring  it  on  the  stage.  But 
even  that  time  of  three  months,  in  which  the  play 
must  have  been  written,  was  shortened  by  the 
researches  of  Fruin.  He  found  two  places  in  the  play 
where  the  dismissing  of  the  son  of  Oldenbarnevelt 
as  governor  of  the  city  of  Bergen  op  Zoom  is  spoken 
about.1  This  fact  is  mentioned  by  the  Ambassador 
Carleton  in  a  letter  to  London  dated  July  I4th.  The 
letter  says  that  the  dismission  took  place  "last  week," 
which  is  in  accordance  with  the  resolutions  of  the 
States  General  of  July  5,  9,  n  and  17.  Consequently 
the  tragedy  must  have  been  written  after  July  I4th, 
the  first  date  at  which  the  dismissal  of  Barnevelt's 
son  could  be  known  in  England,  and  before  August 
I4th,  the  date  on  which  the  players  were  ready  to 
bring  it  on  the  stage,  so  that  not  more  than  one  month 
was  taken  for  the  writing  of  the  play — just  approxi- 
mately the  time,  says  Fruin,  which  in  those  days  was 
allowed  for  the  writing  of  a  play.2 

Another  question  is,  who  was  the  author  of  this 
play? 

Both  Bullen  and  Boyle  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  Fletcher  and  Massinger  together  were  the 
authors.  Their  arguments  founded  on  long  quotations 
are  too  extensive  to  be  given  here.  .  But  Boyle  in 
one  place  gives  this  summary  of  the  evidence,  which 
may  suffice:  "But,  it  may  be  asked,  what  proof  have 
we  that  it  was  a  production  of  Massinger  and 
Fletcher?  As  for  the  latter,  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
His  double  endings  are  sufficient  proof.  As  for  the 
Massinger  part,  there  is  first  the  probability  of  his 
being  Fletcher's  •  partner,  as  the  play  belongs  to  a 

1  Ed.   Bullen,  p.   249.     Here  the  son  of  Oldenbarnevelt  says:     "My 
government    of    Berghen    is    disposed    of."       See    also    p.     277,    where 
Oldenbarnevelt    says:     "Where's   my    son    William?     His    government   is 
gon  too." 

2  Fruin  Verspreide  Geschriften,  IX,  p.  113. 


„     JOHN  OF  OLDENBARNEVELT  EXECUTED      287 

period  when  we  know  they  were  working  together; 
secondly,  the  metrical  style  could  belong  to  nobody 
else;  thirdly,  according  to  his  well-known  manner,  he 
has  allusions  to  and  repetitions  of  expressions  in  his 
other  plays." 

Finally  in  connection  with  this  tragedy  of  Olden- 
barnevelt,  I  must  mention  with  a  few  words  another 
play  written  at  about  the  same  time,  and  for  which 
the  subject  also  was  obtained  from  the  Dutch.  At 
the  end  of  his  introduction  to  the  Tragedy  of  Olden- 
barnevclt,  the  editor  Bullen  writes — "The  following 
note,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Fleay,  will  be 
read  with  interest:  It  is  noticeable  that  a  play  called 
the  Jeweller  of  Amsterdam  or  the  Hague,  by  John 
Fletcher,  Nathaniel  Field  and  Phillip  Massinger,  was 
entered  on  the  Stationer's  Books,  8th  April,  1654,  but 
not  printed.  "  This  play  must  have  been  written 
between  1617  and  1619,  while  Field  was  connected 
with  the  King's  company,  and  undoubtedly  referred 
to  the  murder  of  John  van  Wely,  the  Jeweller  of 
Amsterdam,  by  John  of  Paris,  the  confidential  groom 
of  Prince  Maurice,  in  1619." 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

JOHN  MILTON.  His  LIFE  AND  PARADISE  LOST. 
MILTON  AND  GROTIUS.  MILTON  AND  VONDEL. 
MILTON  AND  JUNIUS,  MILTON  AND  SALMASIUS. 
MILTON  AND  ALEXANDER  MORUS.  BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
HUGO  GROTIUS  AND  JOHN  SELDEN.  SELDEN  AND 
GRASWINCKEL. 

For  the  questions  to  be  considered  in  this  chap- 
ter a  short  outline  of  the  most  important  dates  in 
Milton's  life  may  be  useful.  Milton's  life  is  com- 
monly divided  for  the  convenience  of  the  students 
into  three  periods:  his  education,  followed  by  his 
life  at  his  father's  home  at  Hortqn,  and  his  travel 
to  France  and  Italy  (1608-1639);  his  public  life  in 
the  service  of  the  great  cause  of  the  struggle  against 
the  Stuarts,  before  and  during  the  Commonwealth 
(1640-1660)  ;  and  his  retirement  after  the  great 
struggle  and  under  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts 
(1660-1674). 

From  his  earliest  youth  until  1632,  the  year  in 
which  he  received  his  master's  degree  at  Christ's  Col- 
lege, Cambridge,  Milton  had  a  splendid  education  and 
was  a  very  serious  student,  having  very  early  a  strong 
consciousness  of  the  important  task  of  his  life. 
Although  he  expected  to  become  a  minister  of  the 
church,  Milton,  after  he  left  the  University,  devoted 
himself  rather  to  the  writing  of  poems  and  to  scholar- 
ship, and  consequently  he  stayed  with  his  father  at 
Horton,  not  far  from  Windsor  Castle,  until  in  1638 

288 


JOHN  MILTON  289 

he  started  on  his  journey  to  Italy.  On  his  way  to 
Italy  he  stopped  at  Paris,  where  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Hugo  Grotius,  at  that  time  in  more 
than  one  respect  the  most  famous  scholar,  poet,  law- 
yer, and  theologian  in  Europe.  From  that  time  on, 
new  subjects  and  new  ideals  influenced  his  mind  and 
his  program  of  life,  while  in  England  the  most  critical 
period  of  a  civil  war  began. 

Therefore,  with  Milton's  return  to  England  in 
1639  commences  the  second  period  of  his  life.  It  is 
the  period  of  the  civil  war,  and  of  the  Commonwealth. 
Feeling  to  the  bottom  of  his  heart  the  far  reaching 
importance  of  the  mortal  struggle  in  which  the  whole 
nation  was  involved,  and  in  which  freedom  of  con- 
science was  at  stake,  Milton  sided  with  Cromwell  and 
the  other  leaders  of  Democracy  from  start  to  finish. 
During  that  struggle,  to  which  he  gave  all  the  assist- 
ance he  could,  and  which  pressed  upon  his  mind  with 
all  its  bewildering  grandeur,  and  its  overwhelming 
power  of  earnestness,  his  poetic  feelings  grasped  for 
subjects  adequate  to,  and  in  harmony  with  what  was 
going  on,  subjects  which  he  found  in  the  sublime 
problems  of  "the  ways  of  God  with  men,"  and  in  the 
tremendous  ideas  of  the  fall  of  the  angels  and  of  man, 
which  make  up  the  majestic  pictures  of  Paradise  Lost. 
No  trace  of  this  subject  can  be  found  in  the  first  period 
of  his  life,  although  his  poems  written  during  that 
period,  give  us  ample  information  of  what  were  sub- 
jects in  his  mind.  After  his  return  from  Italy  in 
1639,  authentic  proofs  in  his  own  handwriting  exist 
to  show,  that  these  sublime  questions  had  engrossed 
his  mind,  and  that  they  never  left  him,  until,  in  the 
years  from  1658  until  1663,  he  composed  the  magnifi- 
cent work  which  lies  now  before  us  in  Paradise  Lost. 
And  as  if  the  natural  depth  and  seriousness  of  his  life, 

19 


290  JOHN  MILTON 

the  religious  strictness  of  his  education  and  the  terri- 
ble struggle  in  which  his  people  became  involved, 
were  by  themselves  not  enough  to  uplift  his  soul  to 
the  serene  sublimity  of  this  subject,  he  was  after  the 
year  1652  afflicted  with  total  blindness,  by  which  still 
more  if  possible  his  entire  mind  was  directed  to  the 
unseen  spiritual  world. 

After  the  great  conceptions  of  Paradise  Lost  had 
taken  their  final  form  and  shape,  and  while  Milton 
was  engaged  in  dictating  them,  in  1660  occurred  the 
Restoration,  and  from  that  time,  begins  the  third 
period  of  Milton's  life.  From  1660,  until  his  death 
in  1674,  he  lived  in  retirement,  writing  his  Paradise 
Regained,  as  a  triumphant  consequence  of  his  Para- 
dise Lost,  and  many  other  poems  and  prose  works, 
amongst  which  .the  Samson  Ag.onistes,  "a  subject 
peculiarly  appropriate  to  the  last  sad  years  of  the  old 
Independent,"  came  the  "nearest  to  the  level  of  his 
great  epic." 

After  this  brief  outline,  which  may  recall  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  Paradise  Lost  was  written 
and  its  place  in  the  great  poet's  life,  we  come  now  to 
the  great  question,  what  were  the  sources  accessible 
to  Milton  for  this  grand  epic,  and  to  which  of  them 
was  he  most  indebted? 

That  Milton's  work  rested  only  on  what  he  read 
in  his  bible,  and  consequently  that  he  did  not  even 
know  what  had  been  written  about  the  subject  before 
him,  and  during  his  lifetime,  as  Dr.  J.  J.  Moolhuizen 
puts  the  case,  is  certainly  the  most  improbable  possi- 
bility that  ever  could  be  supposed.  A  scholar  like 
Milton,  "a  man  of  epic  genius,  great  artist  and  origi- 
nator that  he  is  before  anything  else,  is  also  inescapa- 
bly predisposed  to  be  a  collector  and  conserver  of  the 


JOHN  MILTON  291 

perishing  riches  of  the  past."1  No  scholar  in  the 
world,  of  any  account,  would  do  such  a  thing,  as  Dr. 
Moolhuizen  thinks  Milton  did.  Indeed  we  may  be 
sure,  before  anything  else  be  said,  that  Milton  had 
taken  due  notice  of  everything  written  about  his  great 
subject,  which  he  could  in  any  possible  way  obtain. 
We  may  be  just  as  sure  that  every  great  idea,  which 
he  found  in  any  work,  and  which  he  could  make  use 
of  in  his  gigantic  composition,  really  was  used.  It  is 
derogatory  to  the  high  standard  of  Milton's  scholar- 
ship, even  to  doubt  about  this. 

Three  works  there  are,  which  in  this  connection, 
deserve  to  be  taken  into  special  consideration:  ist, 
The  Adamus  E.rul  by  Hugo  Grotius,  published  in 
1600;  2nd,  The  Lucifer  by  Joost  van  den  Vondel,  pub- 
lished in  1653,  and,  3rd,  The  "Paraphrasis"  of  Qed- 
mon,  published  by  Franciscus  Junius  in  1655.  That 
these  three  works  were  the  most  important  sources, 
which  were  at  Milton's  disposal,  is  just  as  sure  as 
that  every  one  of  these  books  was  published  by  a 
man  of  Dutch  nationality. 
MILTON  AND  HUGO  GROTIUS. 

In  the  year  1638,  on  his  way  to  Italy,'  Milton  at 
Paris  made  the  acquaintance  of  Hugo  Grotius.  This 
means  that  a  young  English  poet  of  thirty  years  of 
age,  as  Milton  was  at  that  time,  enjoyed  the  oppor- 
tunity of  getting  into  contact  with  a  man  twenty-five 
years  his  senior ;  a  man  famous  throughout  all  Europe 
as  a  scholar,  lawyer,  poet,  theologian  and  historian, 
some  of  whose  works  were  in  the  library  of  every 

1  Carey  Herbert  Conley,  Milton's  indebtedness  to  his  contem- 
poraries in  "Paradise  Lost."  Typewritten  master's  thesis  in  the 
University  of  Chicago,  1910,  p.  9.  A  copy  of  this  eminent  disserta- 
tion, which  deserves  to  be  printed,  is  in  the  library  of  the  University 
of  Chicago.  It  is  a  work  of  233  pages  (8^xn),  divided  as  follows: 
Introduction,  1-13;  Fletcher's  Locustae  and  Appolyontis,  14-38; 
Grotius'  Adamus  Exul,  35-85;  Caedmon's  Genesis,  87-112;  Vondel's 
Lucifer,  116-185;  Vondel's  Adam  in  Ballingschap,  186-204;  Conclu- 
sion, 206-230;  Bibliography,  232-233. 


292  JOHN  MILTON 

University;  whom,  years  before  Princes  like  Louis 
XIII  and  Gustaphus  Adolphus  had  admired  and  hon- 
ored; whose  work  De  jure  belli  ac  pads,  alone,  had 
established  his  everlasting  fame,  and  whose  book  De 
veritate  Religionis  Christianas  had  been  translated  in 
many  languages,  even  into  the  Arabic  and  the 
Chinese ;  a  Dutch  scholar  who  was  at  that  time  ambas- 
sador for  Queen  Christina  of  Sweden  at  the  Court 
of  France ;  besides  that  a  man  of  a  very  gentle  and 
amiable  character.  That  Milton  must  have  highly 
appreciated  this  meeting  with  Grotius,  does  not  admit 
of  doubt.  It  must  have  brought  Milton,  into  more 
close  contact  also  with  the  works  of  Grotius.  At  least 
when  we  see  that  among  the  themes  for  projected 
poems  in  the  manuscripts  of  Milton,  which  are  now 
in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College,  and  which  date 
about  1640-1642,  there  are  four  which  relate  to  the 
theme  of  Paradise.  Lost,  and  one  called  Christus 
Patiens,  we  cannot  help  thinking  of  Hugo  Grotius, 
whose  A  damns  Exul  and  Christus  Patiens,  as  two 
Tragoediae  Sacrae,  were  published  in  one  volume  in 
1603,  in  1608  at  Leyden  antf  in  1610  and  1618  at 
Paris. 

Before  Milton's  personal  acquaintance  with  Hugo 
Grotius,  he  might  have  read  these  tragedies  of 
Grotius,  and  he  might  have  seen,  the  plays  of  Phineas 
Fletcher,  published  in  1627,  while  Milton  was  a  stu- 
dent ;  he  might  have  known  Joshua  Sylvester's  trans- 
lation of  Du  Bartas'  Divine  Weeks,  but  the  fact  is 
that  Milton  up  to  1640  had  written  many  poems,  and 
had  been  pondering  over  many  beautiful  subjects,  but 
had  not  written  a  single  verse  that  reminds  us  of  the 
sublime  theme  of  these  works.  On  the  other  hand, 
immediately  after  he  met  Hugo  Grotius,  the  theme 
appears  in  his  common-place  book,  and,  as  if  to 


v 


JOHN  MILTON  293 

remind  us  of  Grotius,  he  inserts  also  the  title  Christus 
Fattens.  For  this  reason  it  seems  probable  that,  what- 
ever else  Milton  may  have  read  or  known  about  the 
theme  of  Paradise  Lost,  he  got  from  Hugo  Grotius 
the  deciding  inspiration  for  the  great  theme,  for  the 
development  of  which  the  following  years  in  Milton's 
life  became  so  exceedingly  favorable. 

In  England  the  idea  that  Milton  got  his  first 
inspiration  for  Paradise  Lost  from  Grotius,  has  been 
held  from  a  very  early  date,  for  in  the  Life  of  Milton 
in  the  English  Plutarch,  published  in  1762,  the  author 
says  on  p.  124:  "Mr.  Lauder,  in  his  Essay  on  Milton's 
Life  and  Imitation  of  the  Moderns,  has  insinuated 
that  Milton's  first  hint  of  Paradise  Lost  was  taken 
from  a  tragedy  of  the  celebrated  Grotius,  called 
A  damns  Exul,  and  that  Milton  has  not  thought  it 
beneath  him  to  transplant  some  of  that  author's  beau- 
ties into  his  noble  work,  as  well  as  some  other  flowers 
culled  from  the  gardens  of  inferior  geniuses ;  but  by 
an  elegance  of  art,  and  force  of  nature  peculiar  to  him, 
he  has  drawn  the  admiration  of  the  world  upon  pas- 
sages, which,  in  their  original  authors,  stood  neglected 
and  undistinguished."1 

As  for  the  comparison  of  passages  in  Grotius' 
Adamus  Exul,  and  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  to  find 
the  indebtedness  of  Milton  to  Grotius  as  far  as  the 
contents  of  the  poem  goes,  I  refer  to  the  dissertation 
of  Conley  because  he  follows  the  only  method  I  can 
agree  with,  when  he  says:  "We  shall  moreover  dis- 
card a  method  often  pursued  in  the  study  of  this  and 
other  like  problems — that  of  rather  promiscuously 
ransacking  one  or  more  poems  for  single  lines  or 
passages  that  are  similar  to  an  equal  number  of  lines 
or  words  in  the  poem  which  is  being  considered. 

1  The   work  of  Mr.    Lauder   was  published  at   London   in    1750. 


•294  JOHN   MILTON 

Many  results,  often  of  value  only  to  the  curious  have 
been  produced  in  this  way,  but  we  prefer  to  consider 
here  only  such  likenesses  as  exhibit  fundamental 
parallelisms  of  plot,  matter  and  imagery  in  passages 
of  some  length."1 

Conley  devotes  not  less  than  fifty  pages  to  a  com- 
parison of  Adamns  E.rul  and  Paradise  Lost,  and  at 
the  end,  in  a  summary,  he  makes,  among  others,  the 
conclusion  that  "we  can  safely  say  that  the  outlines 
of  Adamus  Exul  and  Paradise  Lost  are  the  same," 
and  "that  the  relationship  in  most  of  the  cases"  (as 
quoted  in  great  number)  "are  fairly  evident."  "We 
have  now  come  to  the  end  of  this  long  set  of  interest- 
ing correspondences  between  Paradise  Lost  and 
Adamus  Exul,  which,  we  find,  has  extended  from  the 
very  beginning  of  each  poem  almost  to  the  end."2 

MILTON  AND  VONDEL. 

Joost  van  den  Vondel  (1587-1679)  is  considered 
the  greatest  poet  of  the  Netherlands,  and  his  drama 
Lucifer,  is,  of  his  thirty-two  plays,  the  masterpiece. 
His  particular  beauty,  in  which  he  can  hardly  be  said 
to  be  excelled  by  any  poet  in  the  world,  lies  in  the 
lyrical  songs,  which,  after  the  manner  of  Greek 
tragedy,  he  introduces  into  his  plays.  Although  until 
the  year  1640  he  belonged  to  the  more  humanistic 
circle  of  literary  men,  he  was  of  a  deeply  religious 
character,  and  being  strongly  opposed  to  the  Calvin- 
istic  party,  he  at  last  took  refuge  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  in  the  year  1640.  His  tragedy, 
Gysbrecht  van  Amstel,  having  for  its  subject  an 
episode  of  the  early  history  of  Amsterdam,  is  played 
every  year  on  Christmas  in  the  great  theatre  of  that 
city.  Lack  of  sufficient  action,  too  many  monologues 


1  Conley,   Dissertation,   p.    2. 

2  Conley,    p.    84. 


JOHN  MILTON  295 

and  narratives,  are  the  faults  of  Vondel's  plays,  and 
because  of  these  faults  they  never  attained  to  world- 
fame  by  being  often  brought  on  the  stage,  either^  in 
Holland  or  in  foreign  countries. 

Among  his  plays  are,  besides  the  Lucifer,  the 
Adam  in  Ballings  chap  on  the  same  theme  as  Grotius' 
Adamus  Exul;  and  his  Samson  Agonistes.  Vondel 
was  a  strong  royalist,  and  wrote  a  drama  Maria  Stuart 
of  Gemartelde  Majestcit  (Tortured  Majesty).  Dur- 
ing the  civil  war  he  wrote  satires  in  favor  of  Charles 
I,  and  against  Cromwell. 

Milton  probably  never  got  personally  acquainted 
with  Vondel,  but  there  were  many  ways  for  Milton  to 
know  about  Vondel's  writings.  Vondel  was  a  great 
friend  of  Hugo  Grotius,  whom  Milton  met  at  Paris, 
and  was  well  acquainted  with  Franciscus  Junius,  who 
lived  in  England  for  many  years,  and  above  all,  as 
Conley  remarks:  "Vondel's  efforts  as  a  royalist 
pamphleteer,  both  as  regards  Dutch  and  English  poli- 
tics, if  nothing  else,  would  have  brought  him  and  his 
play  to  Milton's  notice."1 

The  question  of  Milton's  indebtedness  to  Vondel 
in  his  Samson  Agonistes,  and  especially  in  his  Para- 
dise Lost,  is  a  very  interesting  one,  and  a  considerable 
number  of  monographs  have  been  published  on  the 
subject,  a  list  of  which  has  been  made  up  by  Conley, 
and  is  given  at  the  end  of  this  chapter.  Edmund- 
son  may  have  gone  too  far  in  a  few  respects  in  assert- 
ing Milton's  indebtedness;  on  the  other  hand  Dr. 
Moolhuizen  undoubtedly  goes  to  the  other  extreme 
by  denying  every  relationship  between  Vondel  and 
Milton.  The  last  and  the  best  monograph  on  the  sub- 
ject seems  to  me  indeed  tlie  dissertation  of  Conley, 
both  for  his  right  method  and  his  thorough  researches. 

1  Conley,    p.    1 16. 


296  JOHN   MILTON 

In  a  really  scrutinizing  comparison  of  all  the  parallel 
places  in  Paradise  Lost  and  Lucifer,  which  fills  not 
less  than  seventy  pages  of  his  dissertation,  Conley 
comes  to  the  following  conclusions :  "Indeed,  though 
Lucifer  certainly  did  not  furnish  the  initial  impulse 
for  the  composition  of  Paradise  Lost,  it  probably 
exerted  the  dominant  influence  upon  Milton's  mind 
while  he  was  giving  his  poem  its  final  form."  And: 
"we  have  been  enabled,  we  think,  to  show  that  in  a 
large  number  of  cases  Milton  greatly  elaborated  sug- 
gestions which  he  obtained  from  Lucifer,  and  in  still 
others  he  probably  expressed  his  disagreement  with 
Vondel."1 

As  for  Vondel's  Adam  in  Ballingschap  (Adam  in 
exile),  and  its  influence  on  Milton,  Conley  says:  "The 
certainty  of  Vondel's  intimate  knowledge  of  A  damns 
Exul  (of  Grotius)  is  confirmed  by  the  discovery  that 
Vondel  had  previously  made  a  Dutch  translation  of 
Adamus  Exul.  These  facts  throw  light  upon  our 
problem  in  this  way :  Milton,  as  we  have  discovered, 
had  with  Adamus  Exul  as  a  basis,  in  his  early  writing 
formed  the  plan  of  the  whole  epic,  and  since  Vondel 
had  formed  his  plan  upon  the  same,  when  Adam  in 
Ballingschap  came  into  his  hands,  he  found  VondeFs 
plot  without  change,  enough  like  his  own  to  furnish 
excellent  material  for  elaboration."2 
MILTON  AND  JUNIUS. 

Franciscus  Junius3  was  the  man  who  furnished 
Milton  with  that  source  for  his  Paradise  Lost,  which 
is  called  the  Paraphrase  of  Genesis  by  Csedmon. 
Junius  studied  this  "Paraphrase,"  and  after  having 
learned  its  old  Anglo-Saxon  language,  published  it  in 
1655  at  Amsterdam,  just*  in  time  for  Milton  to  use  it 
as  one  of  his  sources. 

1  Conley,  p.   185  and   186. 

2  Conley,  p.   188. 

3  See    about   Junius    our    first   chapter. 


JOHN   MILTON  297 

"At  first,"  says  Conley,  "it  seems  rather  hard  to 
connect  Milton  with  this  poem,  for  very  probably  he 
knew  no  Anglo-Saxon,  at  least,  very  little,  but  Junius 
was  in  England  from  1620  to  1651,  employed  as  the 
librarian  of  Thomas  Howard,  Earl  of  Arundel,  an 
estate  famous  for  its  antiquities,  and  situated  fifty- 
five  miles  southwest  of  London.  'During  his  life  at 
Arundel,  Junius  made  several  trips  to  Oxford,  and 
doubtless  passed  through  London  many  times.  And 
it  is  believed  that  through  conversations  with  Junius, 
and  by  examining  his  manuscript  for  the  sake  of  the 
illuminations,  Milton  became  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  contents  of  the  poem." 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  anyone  except  Junius  who 
could  have  given  such  full  information  about  the  con- 
tents of  the  Csedmon  Paraphrase,  at  that  period,  as 
Milton  needed  to  be  useful  for  his  purpose. 

It  was  especially  for  the  "visual  images"  as  "the 
imagery  of  this  poem  surpasses  anything  tradition 
may  have  possessed,  and  approaches  Milton's  bril- 
liant conceptions."1 

BIBLIOGRAPHY    ON     THE    "MILTON     AND    VONDEL" 

QUESTION. 

Conley,  Gary  Herbert.  Milton's  indebtedness  to 
his  contemporaries  in  "Paradise  Lost."  A  master's 
thesis  for  the  University  of  Chicago,  1910.  Only  in 
typewritten  copies  in  the  Harper  Library.  As  I  think 
this  is  the  best  treatise  on  the  subject,  I  give  here  as 
further  bibliography,  the  books  and  articles  enumer- 
ated by  Conley. 

BARHAM,  F. — The  Adamus  Exul  of  Grotius;  Sherwood,  Gil- 
bert and  Piper,  London,  1839. 

GURTEEN,  S.  H.— The  Epic  of  the  Fall  of  Man;  G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons,  New  York  and  London,  1896. 

1  Conley,    p.    112. 


298  JOHN   MILTON 

KUIPER,  DR.  E.  T. — Joost  van  den  Vondel,  Adam  in  Balling- 
schap;  W.  J.  Thieme  en  Cie,  Zutphen,  1906. 

MOODY,  W.  V.— The  Complete  Poetical  Works  of  John  Mil- 
ton; Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Company,  Boston  and  New 
York,  1899. 

CARUS,  P. — History  of  the  Devil;  Open  Court  Publishing 
Company,  Chicago  and  London,  1906. 

CONWAY,  M.  D. — Demonology  and  Devil  Lore ;  2  Volumes, 
New  York,  1879. 

DOUGLAS,  N. — Another  Source  for  Paradise  Lost;  Atlantic 
Monthly,  November,  1908. 

DUFLOU,  G.  D. — Milton's  Indebtedness  to  Vondel;  Academy 
47-379- 

DUNSTER,  C. — Considerations  on  Milton's  early  reading  and 
the  prima  stanina  of  his  "Pardise  Lost"  etc.,  in  a  letter  to 
William  Falconer,  etc. ;  J.  Nichols,  London,  1800. 

EDMUNDSON,  G. — Milton  and  Vondel;  a  curiosity  of  Litera- 
ture; Truebner  and  Company,  London,  1865. 

GOSSE,  E.,  and  EDMUNDSON,  G. — Milton  and  Vondel;  Acad- 
emy 28:  265,  293,  342. 

LAUDER,  W. — An  Essay  on  Milton's  Imitation  of  the  Moderns 
in  his  Paradise  Lost;  J.  Payne  and  J.  Bouquet,  London, 
1750. 

MAC!LRAITH,  J.  R. — Milton  and  Vondel;  Academy  28-308. 

MOOLHUIZEN,  J.  J. — Vondel's  Lucifer  en  Milton's  Verloren 
Paradys;  Dissertation,  Gravenhage,  1895. 

MUELLER,  A. — Milton's  Abhaengigkeit  von  Vondel;  Disserta- 
tion, Berlin,  1891. 

WESTWOOD,  J.  C. — Milton  and  Caedmon;  Academy  35-10. 

WOODHULL,  M. — The  Epic  of  Paradise  Lost;  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  New  York  and  London,  1907. 
Milton  and  Vondel;  Nation  42-264. 
Milton  and  Vondel;  Atheneum  '85,  2-599. 

MILTON  AND  SALMASIUS. 

At  a  time  when  Cromwell  with  his  Ironsides  was 
fighting  the  battle  of  Marston-Moor,  and  Milton  was 
defending  the  cause  of  English  Democracy  writh  his 
arguments,  there  was  at  the  University  of  Leyden  a 


JOHN  MILTON  299 

professor  by  the  name  of  Claude  Salmasius,  or 
Saumaise  as  he  was  called  in  France,  from  where 
he  came.  Born  in  1588  at  Semur-en-Auxois,  in  Bur- 
gundy, Salmasius  had  a  very  brilliant  career  in  almost 
every  department  of  learning,  and  scholarship.  He 
studied  law  for  three  years  under  the  famous  Gode- 
froy  at  Heidelberg,  but  afterwards  preferred  the  study 
of  languages  and  literature.  His  fame  as  a  scholar 
of  the  very  first  rank  ran  through  all  Europe.  The 
Universities  of  Padua  and  Bologna  offered  him  a  pro- 
fessorship, and  England  tried  to  win  him,  until  in 
1623  he  accepted  the  call  of  Ley  den  in  order  to  take 
the  place  of  Scaliger.  After  that  Louis  XIII  of 
France  made  him  Counsel  of  State;  Henry  of  Bour- 
bon, Governor  of  Burgundy,  made  all  efforts  to  recall 
him  to  France ;  the  queen  Christina  of  Sweden  invited 
him  to  her  court ;  the  Cardinal  de  Richelieu  offered 
him  a  great  amount  of  money  in  case  he  would  leave 
Holland;  Prince  Maurits  asked  him  to  write  a  book 
on  Roman  military  training,  and  Prince  Frederick 
Henry  once,  when  Salmasius  had  to  make  a  journey 
to  France,  ordered  a  ship  to  be  put  at  his  disposal, 
and  a  part  of  the  Dutch  fleet  to  accompany  him  to 
one  of  the  seaports  of  France.  Never  before  was  a 
scholar  given  so  much  honor.  To  all  this  Salmasius 
responded  by  writing  an  almost  incredible  number  of 
books  on  all  kinds  of  subjects,  as  well  as  pamphlets 
on  the  prominent  questions  of  the  day.  Being  a 
royalist,  he  wrote,  shortly  after  the  execution  of 
Charles  I,  a  booklet  entitled  "Defensio  Regia  pro 
Carolo  I,"  dedicated  to  the  king's  oldest  son  Charles, 
whom  he  called  the  heir  and  legitimate  successor  of 
his  father  as  King  of  England. 

This    book    appeared    in    October    or    November, 
1649.     On  January  8,    1650,  it  was  ordered  by  the 


300  JOHN   MILTON 

English  Council  of  State  "that  Mr.  Milton  do  pre- 
pare something  in  answer  to  the  book  of  Salmasius, 
and  when  he  has  done  it  bring  it  to  the  Council." 
Milton  undertook  this  task  and  wrote  his  book  "Pro- 
Populo  Anglicano  Defensio."  Salmasius  at  the  height 
of  his  European  fame,  living  near  to  the  court  of 
Prince  William  II,  who  had  married  Princess  Mary, 
the  daughter  of  the  beheaded  king,  and  the  sister  of 
the  'Princes  Charles  and  James,  who  had  found  refuge 
at  The  Hague,  wrote  in  a  very  dignified,  quiet,  some- 
what pedantic  style,  hardly  imagining  that  anybody 
in  the  world  could  surpass  him.  But  Milton  was  in 
quite  another  disposition.  His  indignation  rose  to 
heaven.  "His  scorn  of  the  presumptuous  intermed- 
dler,  who  had  dared  to  libel  the  people  of  England,  is 
ten  thousand  times  more  real  than  Salmasius'  official 
indignation  at  the  execution  of  Charles.  His  con- 
tempt for  Salmasius'  pedantry  is  quite  genuine;  and 
he  revels  in  ecstacies  of  savage  glee,  when  taunting 
the  apologist  of  tyranny  with  his  own  notorious  sub- 
jection to  a  tyrannical  wife.  But  the  reveler  in  Milton 
is  too  far  ahead  of  the  reasoner."1 

"There  is  no  comparison  between  the  invective  of 
Milton  and  of  Salmasius ;  not  so  much  from  Milton's 
superiority  as  a  controversialist,  though  this  is  very 
evident,  as  because  he  writes  under  the  inspiration 
of  a  true  passion." 

Of  course  both  Salmasius  and  Milton  were  able 
to  adduce  strong  arguments  in  favor  of  the  side 
which  they  were  defending,  and  the  question  which 
wrote  best  depends  largely  upon  what  point  of  view 
the  critic  adopts.  Those  who  look  at  the  controversy 
from  a  purely  literary  point  of  view,  will  certainly 
give  the  palm  of  victory  to  Milton. 

1  Richard   Garnett,    Life    of  John   Milton,   p.    112. 


JOHN  MILTON  301 

MILTON  AND  ALEXANDER  MORUS. 

Among  the  pamphlets  that  were  published  in 
answer  to  Milton's  Defense  of  the  English  people, 
there  was  one  that  was  deemed  worthy  of  an  answer. 
It  was  entitled  "Clamor  regii  sanguinis  ad  coelum 
adversus  paricidas  Anglicanos,"  and  was  published 
at  The  Hague  in  1652,  without  mentioning  the  author. 
Milton  was  informed  that  Alexander  Morus,  a  pro- 
fessor in  the  Athenaeum  at  Amsterdam,  was  the  author, 
and  wrote  his  Defensio  secunda  against  Morus,  who 
was  an  accomplice,  only  in  so  far  as  he  seems  to  have 
brought  the  pamphlet  to  the  printer,  and  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  agreed  with  it  perfectly.  Milton's 
Defensio  secunda,  published  in  1654,  is  especially  inter- 
esting, because  in  answering  the  personal  attacks 
made  upon  him,  he  gave  a  fairly  complete  account  of 
his  own  youth.  At  the  same  time  Milton  had  obtained 
such  intimate  information  about  the  life  and  the  faults 
of  Morus,  and  with  this  knowledge  attacked  him  so 
fiercely,  that  the  curators  of  the  Athenaeum  took 
official  notice  of  it,  and  he  became  involved  in  a  good 
deal  of  trouble,  from  which  he  tried  to  extricate  him- 
self in  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "Alexandri  Mori  fides 
publica."  The  real  author,  however,  was  not  Morus, 
but  Peter  Du  Moulin  (son  of  the  well-known  French- 
man of  the  same  name)  ex-rector  of  Wheldrake  in 
Yorkshire. 

The  only  merit  in  these  controversies,  whether 
with  Salmasius  or  with  Morus,  is  that  they  gave 
sufficient  offense  to  Milton  to  make  him  produce  his 
double  defense  of  the  English  Democracy. 

HUGO  GROTIUS  AND  JOHN  SELDEN. 

In  this  connection  the  controversy  between  Hugo 
Grotius  and  John  Selden  may  be  mentioned  in  a  few 
words,  as  occurring  at  the  same  time  between  an  Eng- 


302  JOHN  MILTON 

lish  and  a  Dutch  scholar.  It  is  the  famous  contro- 
versy between  the  Mare  Liberum  of  Hugo  Grotius 
and  the  Mare  Clausum  of  John  Selden. 

John  Selden  (1584-1654)  was  one  of  the  greatest 
scholars,  one  of  the  best  defenders  of  the  people's 
liberties,  one  of  the  most  able  members  of  Parliament, 
that  ever  lived  in  England.  Some  of  the  authors  who 
write  about  him,  will  tell  us  that  he  was  not  in  favor 
of  Democracy,  but  they  do  not  understand  that  a  man 
may  be  of  the  highest  aristocratic  spirit,  and  be  living 
exclusively  with  men  of  high  learning,  and  high  stand- 
ing, and  yet  be  one  of  the  best  defenders  of  the  rights 
of  the  people. 

But  in  the  controversy  with  Grotius,  Selden  made 
the  great  mistake  of  his  life.  He  declared  in  his  Mare 
Clausum,  that  "the  sea  as  much  as  the  land  is  the  sub- 
ject of  private  property,"  and  more  especially  that 
England  owned  that  property  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, while  Grotius  defended  the  freedom  of  the  open 
sea. 

With  Grotius  the  Mare  Liberum  was  originally 
only  a  chapter  in  his  great  work  De  jure  Praedae 
Commcntarius,  which  formed  the  fundamental  con- 
ception of  his  later  work,  De  jure  belli  ac  pads,  which 
is  considered  now  all  over  the  world  as  the  founda- 
tion of  international  law,  and  which  gave  to  the  name 
of  Hugo  Grotius  an  imperishable  fame.1  Selden's 
book  was  only  a  single  study  in  that  field,  written  at 
the  command  of  James  I  and  Charles  I ;  King  Charles 
was  very  much  pleased  with  it,  and  although  this  is 
no  great  compliment  for  Selden,  it  was  no  reason  for 
another  Dutch  juris  consult  of  fame,  Graswinckiel, 
to  accuse  Selden  of  writing  the  book  to  get  out  of 
prison.  Selden  gave  a  due  answer  to  Graswinckel  in 
his  Vindiciae,  a  short  time  before  he  died,  in  1654. 

l  Cf.    R.    Fruin,    Verspreide    Geschriften,   III,   367-445. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

THE    TIME    OF    THE    ANGLO-DUTCH    WARS.      JOHN 
DRYDEN,  ANDREW  MARVELL  AND  EDMUND 
WALLER 

The  seventeenth  century  was  the  most  glorious 
time  for  the  Dutch  Republic.  The  Dutch  flag  was 
on  all  seas,  Dutch  colonies  were  found  in  every  corner 
of  the  globe ;  the  riches  accumulated  in  the  cities  of 
Holland  was  for  those  times  beyond  all  imagination ; 
art  and  literature  flourished  under  the  protection  of 
wealthy  business  men,  and  names  like  those  of  Rem- 
brandt and  Van  Dyck,  Vondel  and  Cats  were  being 
added  to  the  list  of  world-famous  men ;  admirals  like 
Tromp  and  DeRuyter  maintained  the  respect  which 
was  due  to  the  sturdy  Republic;  generals,  like  the 
Princes  of  Orange,  made  their  armies  a  training- 
school  for  the  best  soldiers  in  Europe.  The  Northern 
Provinces,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
with  their  wealthy  cities  like  Amsterdam  and  Rot- 
terdam, were  worthy  successors  of  the  cities  of  the 
Southern  Netherlands  in  the  sixteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries  and  even  excelled  them  by  far.  In  a  city 
like  Brughes,  it  happened  in  the  year  1301,  that  the 
queen  of  France,  sitting  at  a  dinner  party,  made  the 
remark,  "I  thought  that  I  alone  was  the  queen  here, 
but  I  see  that  all  the  ladies  here  are  queens."  But  in 
Amsterdam  it  happened  that  a  foreign  prince  while 
taking  dinner  with  the  magistrates,  asked  one  of  his 
neighbors  at  the  table  if  there  were  any  nobles  there, 

303 


304         TIME    OF    THE  ANGLO -DUTCH    WARS 

and  received  as  an  answer,  "We  are  all  princes  here." 
Holland  "had  reached  the  height  of  power,  prosperity 
and  glory.  The  Batavian  territory,  conquered  from 
the  waves,  and  defended  against  them  by  human  art, 
was  in  extent  little  superior  to  the  principality  of 
Wales.  But  all  that  narrow  space  was  a  busy  and 
populous  hive,  in  which  new  wealth  was  every  day 
created,  and  in  which  vast  masses  of  old  wealth  were 
hoarded.  The  aspect  of  Holland,  the  rich  cultivation, 
the  innumerable  canals,  the  ever  whirling  mills,  the 
endless  fleets  of  barges,  the  numerous  clusters  of 
great  towns,  the  ports  bristling  with  thousands  of 
masts,  the  large  and  stately  mansions,  the  trim  villas, 
the  richly  furnished  apartments,  the  picture  galleries, 
the  summer-houses,  the  tulip-beds,  produced  on  Eng- 
lish travelers  in  that  age  an  effect  similar  to  the  effect, 
which  the  first  sight  of  England  now  produces  on 
a  Norwegian  or  a  Canadian."1  That  foreigners  who 
travelled  in  Holland  during  the  seventeenth  century 
were  profoundly  impressed  by  its  tremendous  wealth 
and  power  is  evident  from  contemporary  English 
writers  such  as  Evelyn  in  his  Diary  (published  Lon- 
don, 1818),  and  William  Temple,  and  from  an  anony- 
mous pamphlet,  published  in  1664,  entitled,  "The 
Dutch  Drawn  to  the  Life,"2  and  another  work,  A  Late 
Voyage  to  Holland,  which  was  published  in  1691. 3 

But  this  glorious  position  of  Holland,  leading  the 
nations  of  Europe  in  civilization,  in  trade,  in  industry, 
in  art,  and  last,  but  not  least,  in  politics,  was  not 
destined  to  endure.  England's  trade  and  power  were 
now  growing  very  fast,  and  because  Cromwell  made 
up  his  mind  either  to  unite  the  Dutch  Republic  with 
the  English  Commonwealth,  or  to  conquer  the  Dutch 

1  Macaulay,  History   of  England,   Vol.   I,   p.    188. 

2  A  copy  of  this  pamphlet  is  in  the  University   Library  at  Leyden. 

3  Harleian   miscellany,    Vol.    II. 


TIME    OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS        305 

on  the  sea,  and  because  the  Dutch  could  not  accept 
the  former  alternative,  there  was  left  for  Holland  only 
one  choice,  viz.,  a  struggle  against  England  for  the 
empire  of  the  waves.  Cromwell's  navigation  acts 
gave  the  first,  but  at  the  same  time,  the  fatal  stroke 
to  Holland's  supremacy  on  the  sea.1  Since  that  time 
England  grew  in  power  very  fast  and  Holland  de- 
clined. Only  once  more,  and  that  in  confederation 
with  England,  did  Holland  lead  the  politics  of  the 
world.  It  was  under  William  the  Third,  Prince  of 
Orange,  stadholder  of  Holland  and  King  of  England, 
when  Louis  XIV  of  France  threatened  all  Protes- 
tantism with  complete  extirpation,  and  this  great 
Prince,  a  statesman  and  general  of  such  ability  that 
the  world's  history  knows  only  a  few  like  him,  at  the 
head  of  Holland  and  England,  frustrated  all  the  plans 
of  the  French  King,  delivered  England  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  Stuarts,  and  dominated  all  the  factions 
that  weakened  the  United  Netherlands. 

The  Dutch-English  wars  were  begun  for  no  other 
reason  "but  that  the  Hollanders  exceeded  us  in  com- 
merce and  industries,  and  in  all  things  but  envy"  as 
Evelyn  wrote  on  June  2,  1672.  This  constant  envy, 
and  the  wars  brought  about  a  bad  feeling  between 
the  two  nations,  which  is  easily  perceived,  and  is 
apparent  in  the  literature -of  both  nations  during  the 
period.  Patriotism  received  an  evil  development  and 
was  exaggerated  to  the  limit,  and  in  such  cases  some 
literary  men  are  always  found  who  are  eager  to  please 
public  opinion. 

There  was,  indeed,  an  opportunity  for  a  man  like 

1  Like  John  Dryden,  writing  poems  for  his  daily  bread,  said  in 
his  stanzas  on  Oliver  Cromwell: 

"He    (viz.    Cromwell)    made   us    freemen    of   the    continent 
Whom    nature    did    like    captives    treat    before; 
To    nobler    preys    the    English    lion    sent, 
And    taught    him    first    in    Belgian    walks   to    roar." 

20 


806        TIME   OP   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS 

John  Dryden  (1631-1700),  a  man  "who  made  writing 
a  trade."  "He  was  quick  to  feel  what  the  public 
wanted  and  he  showed  no  scruples  in  adapting  his 
wares  to  the  popular  demand."1  Dryden's  ability  was 
great,  indeed,  and  from  the  death  of  Milton  in  1674, 
till  his  own  in  1700,  he  reigned  undisputed;  and  sat 
on  his  throne  in  Will's  Coffeehouse,  as  "glorious 
John,"  surrounded  by  several  of  the  minor  poets,  and 
writers  of  his  time;  but  at  the  same  time  the  moral 
danger  of  the  influence  of  his  character,  or  rather  of 
his  lack  of  character,  has  been  felt  ever  since,  and  is 
warned  against  by  every  author  to  the  present  day.  In 
the  days  of  Cromwell,  he  praised  the  Lord  Protector ; 
after  the  restoration,  he  celebrated  the  return  of  the 
Stuarts,  and  when  the  Catholic  James  II  ascended  the 
throne,  Dryden  wrote  his  Hind  and  Panther,  glorify- 
ing the  Church  of  Rome.  No  wonder  that  this  man, 
as  he  felt  that  the  envy  and  competition  between  the 
English  and  the  Dutch  nations  was  growing,  inspired 
himself  with  a  hatred  against  the  Dutch,  that  knew 
no  limit.  His  tragedy,  Amboyna,  gives  the  proof. 
The  full  title  is:  Amboyna,  or  the  Cruelties  of  the 
Dutch  to  the  English  Merchants,  a  Tragedy,  1672. 
His  subject  is  the  story  of  some  Englishmen  on  the 
Dutch  isle  of  Amboyna  in  East  India,  who  were 
accused  of  conspiring  to  overpower  the  Dutch  gov- 
ernment of  the  isle,  were  arrested,  convicted  and  exe- 
cuted. The  story  as  related  in  Dutch  and  English 
.books  seems  to  be  different  and  the  truth  is  difficult 
to  find  out;  but  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  this  tragedy  of  Dryden.  According  to  the  authors 
of  the  best  edition  of  Dryden's  works,  Sir  Walter 
Scott  and  George  Saintsbury,  "the  play  is  beneath 
criticism"  and,  says  Scott,  "I  can  hardly  hesitate  to 

1  Henry    Pancoast    and    P.    van    Dyke    Shelly,    English    Literature, 
p.    227. 


TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS        307 

term  it  the  worst  production  Dryden  ever  wrote,"  and 
Saintsbury  adds:  "The  play  is  the  one  production  of 
Dryden  which  is  utterly  worthless  except  as  a  curi- 
osity."1 Dryden  wrote  it  "with  the  avowed  intention 
of  exasperating  the  nation  against  the  Dutch."2  at  a 
time  when  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  Shaftes- 
bury,  stated  that  "the  States  of  Holland  were  Eng- 
land's eternal  enemies,  both  by  interest  and  by  inclina- 
tion."3 The  play  was  acted  and  printed  in  1673.  Both 
the  language  spoken  by  the  Lord  Chancellor,  and  the 
play  of  Dryden,  show  with  what  apprehension  at  that 
time  a  war  with  Holland  was  regarded.  Such  lan- 
guage is  not  inspired  by  strength,  but  by  fear  and 
despair.  It  shows  how  strong  Holland  still  was  at 
that  time,  and  the  war,  that  followed  these  utterances, 
lasted  from  1672  until  1674,  when  Holland  had  to 
fight  at  the  same  time  against  England,  France, 
Munster  and  Cologne.  And  the  result  for  England 
was  doubtful.  From  1672,  to  February,  1674,  not 
less  than  twenty-seven  hundred  and  three  English 
ships  were  taken  by  the  Dutch,  and  after  two  years' 
experience  England  was  ready  to  make  peace.  The 
time  for  the  annihilation  of  Holland  as  one  of  the 
great  powers  on  sea  had  not  yet  come. 

Besides  his  Amboyna,  Dryden  in  1665  wrote  a 
poem  on  the  victory  of  the  Duke  of  York  over  the 
Dutch.  June  3,  1665,  during  the  war  of  1665-1667, 
with  Holland.  Much  better  than  his  Amboyna  is 
Dryden's  poem  entitled,  Annus  Mirabilis,  the  year  of 
Wonders,  1666.  This  is  generally  considered  as  one 
of  Dryden's  best  works.  The  versification  is  brilliant, 
indeed,  and  from  an  enthusiastic  English  patriotic 
point  of  view,  one  can  understand  that  even  the  con- 

1  The   works  of  John   Dryden,   Vol.    V,   p.    3. 

2  Idem.,  p.  2. 

3  Idem.,  p.  2. 


308         TIME    OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS 

tents  are  wonderful,  when  the  poet  sings  the  praise 
of  the  English  in  the  Anglo-Dutch  war  of  that  time. 
When  describing  the  four  days'  battle  of  June,  1666, 
his  enthusiasm  nearly  makes  a  glorious  victory  out 
of  a  decided  defeat,  from  which  the  remnant  of  the 
English  fleet  was  saved  only  by  a  heavy  fog.  And 
as  for  the  inspiration  of  the  poet,  it  was  the  same  as 
the  reason  why  England  declared  war,  viz.,  a  jealousy 
of  the  commerce,  and  a  greedy  desire  to  grasp  the 
riches  of  the  Dutch  commercial  vessels.  His  enthusi- 
astic praise  of  simple  brute  force,  without  any  higher 
ideal  of  righteousness  shows  this.  He  begins  with 
these  stanzas: 

In  thriving  arts  long  time  had  Holland  grown, 
Crouching  at  home  and  cruel  when  abroad ; 

Scarce  leaving  us  the  means  to  take  our  own; 
Our  king  they  courted  and  our  merchants  awed. 

Trade,  which  like  blood  should   circularly  flow, 
Stopped  in  their  channels,  found  its  freedom  lost; 

Thither  the  wealth  of  all  the  world  did  go, 
And  seemed  but  shipwrecked  on  so  base  a  coast. 

For  them  alone  the  heavens  had  kindly  heat 
In  eastern  quarries  ripening  precious  dew; 

For  them  the  Idumaean  balm  did  sweat, 
And   in  hot  Ceylon   spicy  forest  grew. 

The  sun  but  seemed  the  labourer  of  their  year; 

Each  waning  moon  supplied  her  watery  store, 
To  swell  those  tides,  which  from  the  Line  did  bear 

Their  brim-full  vessels   to  the  Belgian   shore. 

Thus  mighty  in  her  ships,  stood  Carthage  long, 
And  swept  the  richess  of  the  world  from  far ; 

Yet  stooped  to  Rome,  less  wealthy,  but  more  strong; 
And  this  may  proof  our  second  Punic  war. 

What  peace  can  be,  where  both  to  one  pretend? 

(But  they  more   diligent,  and  we  more  strong) 
Or  if  a  peace,  it  soon  must  have  an  end; 

For  they  would  grow  too  powerful,  were  it  long. 


TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS        309 

Such  language  as  this  reminds  one  of  the  fallen 
angels  in  Paradise  Lost  or  in  Vondel's  Lucifer,  telling 
each  other  about  the  happiness  and  luxury  of  Adam 
and  Eve  in  Paradise,  at  a  time  when  they,  over- 
whelmed by  jealousy,  were  stirring  each  other  up  to  a 
revolt  against  Heaven. 

Dryden  used  sometimes  to  visit  Milton,  but  Milton 
"thought  him  no  poet  but  a  good  rhimest,"1  and 
Milton  knew  what  poetry  was. 

Another  English  poet,  inspired  by  English  patri- 
otism against  the  Dutch,  was  Andrew  Marvel!  (1621- 
1678),  an  intimate  friend  of  Milton,  an  adherent  of 
Cromwell,  and  for  sometime  member  of  Parliament 
for  Hull.  Marvell  was  not  a  vile  hireling  of  every 
dominant  party  like  Dryden,  forx  after  the  restoration 
of  the  Stuarts,  the  government  was  once  advised  "to 
crush  the  pestilent  wit,  the  servant  of  Cromwell  and 
the  friend  of  Milton."  He  visited  Holland  more  than 
once  and  in  1653  he  wrote  a  satire  upon  Holland 
entitled:  The  character  of  Holland.  It  is  a  satire 
of  192  lines,  and  contains  several  really  humorous 
parts.  The  small  size  of  the  country,  its  low  level, 
which  is  in  part  below  that  of  the  sea,  the  work  of 
draining,  the  herring-fishery,  and  many  things  in  Hol- 
land, seen  with  the  superficial  view  of  an  English 
member  of  Parliament,  furnish  him  abundant  material 
for  his  wit. 

He  begins  by  looking  at  Holland  from  his  Eng- 
lish patriotic  point  of  view,  and  says : 

"Holland,  that  scarce  deserves  the  name  of  land, 
As  but  the  off-scouring  of  the  British  sand." 

The  city  of  Amsterdam  he  describes  as  follows : 

Sure  when  religion  did  itself  embark 

And  from,  the  east  would  westward  steer  its  ark, 

1  English   Plutarch,   Life  of  Milton,   p.    142. 


310         TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS 

It  struck,  and   splitting  on  this  unknown  ground 
Each  one  thence  pillaged  the  first  piece  he  found; 
Hence    Amsterdam,    Turk — Christian — Pagan — Jew  ; 
Staple  of  sects  and  mint  of  schism  grew; 
The  bank  of  conscience,  where  not  one  so  strange 
Opinion  but  finds  credit,  and  exchange. 

The  old  custom  which  Dutch  women  in  the  vil- 
lages had  of  taking  with  them,  when  going  to  church 
in  wintertime,  a  footstool  heated  by  glowing  pieces  of 
peat  or  "turf,"  he  described  as  follows: 

See  but  the  mermaids  with  their  tails  of  fish 
Reeking  at  church  over  the  chafing-dish ! 
A  vestal  turf,  enshrined  in  earthern  ware, 
Fumes  through  the  loopholes  of  a  wooden  square; 
Each  to  the  temple  with  these  altars  bend. 

He  shows  himself  even  acquainted  with  the  works 
of  Hugo  Grotius,  and  brings  his  book  entitled  Mare 
Liberum  or  "the  free  sea"  into  his  satire  in  this  way: 

Yet   still   his   claim  the   injured   ocean   laid 
And   oft  at  leap-frog  o'er  their  steeples  played, 
As  if  on  purpose  it  on  land  had  come 
To  show  them  what's  their  mare  liberum. 

Yet  after  all  he  cannot  deny  that  Holland  in  the  year 
1653  amounted  to  something,  for  he  called  it  "the 
Hydra  of  the  seven  provinces."  But  he  is  not  afraid, 
for  there  is  England,  the  young  Hercules  that  will 
beat  the  Dutch. 

And  now  the  Hydra  of  seven  provinces 
Is  strangled  by  our  infant  Hercules. 

England  is  further  compared  with  Rome,  and  Hol- 
land is  the  Carthago  delenda: 

Or,  what  is  left,  their  Carthago  overcome 
Would  render  fain  unto  our  better  Rome. 

Another  much  longer  poem,  containing  900  lines, 


TIME    OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH-  WARS        311 

is  a  satire  directed  against  Holland  and  is  entitled: 
The  last  instructions  to  a  painter  about  the  Dutch 
Wars,  1667.  From  the  picture  which  the  painter  is 
supposed  to  make  of  our  lady  State,  it  is  apparent  that 
the  Dutch  war  of  1665-1667  has  made  a  painfully 
sore  impression  on  our  poet.  The  Dutch  admiral,  De 
Ruyter,  had  just  taken  as  his  trophy  the  Royal 
Charles,  the  English  flagship,  while  the  English 
Parliament  and  Lords,  horror-stricken,  listened  to  the 
music  of  the  Dutch  guns  on  the  Thames.  Now  our 
poet  is  in  sack-cloth  and  ashes!  Just  listen  how  he 
complains  over  that  day  of  Chattam ;  the  sublime 
style  of  the  book  Job  is  hardly  good  enough : 

Black  day,  accursed !  on  thee  let  no  man  hail 

Out  of  the  port,  or  dare  to  hoist  a  sail, 

Or  row  a  boat  in  thy  unlucky  hour! 

Thee,  the  year's  monster,  let  thy  dam  devour 

And  constant  Time,  to  keep  his  course  yet  right, 

Fill  up  thy  space  with  a  redoubled  night. 

His  heart  really  breaks,  when  he  thinks  of  that  flag- 
ship, the  Royal  Charles: 

That  sacred  keel  that  had,  as  he,  restored 
Its  exiled  sovereign  on  its  happy  board 
That  pleasure  boat  of  war,  in  whose  dear  side 
.  Secure,  so  oft  he  had  this  foe  defied 
Now  a  cheap  spoil,  and  the  mean  victor's  slave 
Taught  the  Dutch  colours  from  its  top  to  wave ; 
Of  former  glories  the  reproachful  thought, 
With  present  shame  compared,  his  mind  distraught. 

They  would  rather  have  seen  it  burnt, — I  think  he  is 
right !— than  to  see  it  taken  as  a  trophy  to  Holland : 

But  most  they  for  their  darling  Charles  complain 
And  were  it  burned,  yet  less  would  be  their  pain. 
To  see  that  fatal  pledge  of  sea-command, 


312         TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH    WARS 

Now  in  the  ravisher  De  Ruyter's  hand, 

The  Thames  roared,  swooning  Medway  turned  her  tide, 

And  were  they  mortal,  both  for  grief  had  died. 

But  enough  to  see  the  influence  of  Holland  on  Andrew 
Marvell.  Holland  made  the  deepest  and  the  most 
different  impressions  on  him;  it  made  him  laugh,  so 
that  his  sides  were  sore,  and  on  the  other  hand  it  made 
him  cry  like  a  baby,  so  that  the  tears  rolled  down 
his  cheeks ;  him,  Andrew  Marvell,  Englishman,  M.  P. 
Another  poet,  who  deserves  to  be  mentioned  here, 
is  Edmund  Waller  (1606-1678),  whose  lovely  poems 
cannot  but  make  a  charming  impression  on  the  reader, 
whose  conduct  in  life  was  controlled  by  personal 
friendship,  and  by  noble  principles,  not  always  without 
conflict  between  the  two  leading  elements ;  to  whom 
we  can  forgive  his  personal  friendship  both  for  Stuart 
Kings  and  for  Cromwell,  because  he  ever  tried  to  stand 
for  liberty  and  the  rights  of  property,  for  freedom 
and  toleration.  "No  poetical  reputation,"  says  Drury,1 
"has  suffered  such  vicissitudes  as  that  of  Edmund 
Waller ;  described  in  the  inscription  upon  his  tomb  as 
'inter  poetas  sui  temporis  facile  princeps,'  it  was  still 
possible,  in  1766,  to  introduce  him  to  the  readers  of 
the  Biographia  Brittannica  as  "The  most  celebrated 
Lyric  poet  that  ever  England  produced,"  and  when, 
in  1772,  Percival  Stockdale  wrote  his  Life  in  which  he 
declared  that  "his  zvorks  gave  a  new  era  to  Eng- 
lish poetry,"  his  performance  was  considered  of 
such  merit,  that  he  was  on  the  point  of  re- 
ceiving that  commission  to  write  "The  lives  of 
the  Poets,"  which  was  afterwards  entrusted  to  John- 
son.' His  position  as  member  of  Parliament  dur- 
ing many  years,  and  from  his  early  youth,  his  wealth, 

1  The  Poems  of  Edmund  Waller,  edited  by  G.  Thorn,  Vol.  I,  Introd. 
p.  69. 


TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS        313 

and  that  of  his  wife,  which  gave  him  the  name  of 
being  probably  the  richest  pdet  in  English  literature, 
have  added  lustre  to  his  refined  spirit,  and  to  the 
charming  elegance  of  his  poetry. 

Waller  wrote  several  poems  inspired  by  Dutch  sub- 
jects, the  first  of  which  was  that  to  Anton  Van  Dyck, 
a  Dutch  painter,  who  lived  in  England  during  ten  years 
(1630-1640),  and  whom  everybody  knows  from  his 
lovely  portraits  of  the  children  of  Charles  I.  The 
poem  is  apparently  written  by  Waller  after  having 
admired  a  lady's  portrait  painted  by  Van  Dyck,  and 
reads  as  follows : 

To  VAN  DYCK 

Rare  Artisan  whose  pencil  moves 

Not  our  delights  alone,  but  loves ! 

From  thy  shop  of  beaut)'  we 

Slaves  return,  that  entered  free. 

The  heedless  lover  does  not  know 

Whose  eyes  they  are  that  wound  him  so; 

But,  confounded  with  thy  art, 

Inquires  her  name  that  has  his  heart. 

Another,  who  did  long  refrain, 

Feels  his  old  wound  bleed  again 

With  dear  remembrance  of  that  face, 

Where  now  he  reads  new  hopes  of  grace : 

Nor  scorn  nor  cruelty  does  find, 

But  gladly  suffers  a  false  wind 

To  blow  the  ashes  of  despair 

From  the  reviving  brand  of  care. 

Fool !  that  forgets  her  stubborn  look 

This  softness  from  thy  finger  took. 

Strange!  that  thy  hand  should  not  inspire 

The  beauty  only,  but  the  fire; 

Not  the  form  alone,  and  grace, 

But  act  and  power  of  the  face. 

Mayst  thou  yet  thyself  as  well, 

As  all  the  world  besides,  excel! 

So  you  the  unfeigned  truth  rehearse 


314         TIME    OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS 

(That  I  may  make  it  live  in  verse) 
Why  thou  couldst  not  at  one  assay 
That  face  to  aftertimes  convey, 
Which  this  admires.     Was  it  thy  wit 
To  make  her  oft  before  thee  sit? 
•  Confess,  and  we'll  forgive  thee  this ; 
For  who  would  not  repeat  that  bliss? 
And   frequent  sight  of  such  a   dame 
Buy  with  the  hazard  of  his  fame? 
Yet  who  can  tax  thy  blameless  skill, 
Though  thy  good  hand  had  failed  still, 
When  nature's  self  so  often  errs? 
She  for  this  many  thousand  years 
Seems  to  have  practiced  with  much  care, 
To  frame  the  race  of  women  fair; 
Yet  never  could  a  perfect  birth 
Produce  before  to  grace  the  earth, 
Which  waxed  old  ere  it  could  see 
Her  that  amazed  thy  art  and  thee. 
But  now  'tis  done,  O  let  me  know 
Where  those  immortal  colors  grow, 
That  could  this  deathless  piece  compose ! 
In  lilies?  or  the  fading  rose? 
No;  for  this  theft  thou  hast  climbed  higher 
Than  did  Prometheus  for  his  fire. 

Another  poem  in  which  he  mentions  Holland  is : 
A  panegyric  to  my  Lord  Protector,  Of  the  present 
greatness,  and  joint  interest  of  his  Highness,  and  this 
nation.  Here  speaks  the  English  patriot  at  the  time 
in  which  the  great  struggle  between  Holland  and  Eng- 
land for  the  supremacy  of  the  sea  began.  Addressing 
the  Lord  Protector  the  poet  says: 

Holland,  to  gain  your  friendship,  is  content 
To  be  our  outguard  on  the  continent; 
She  from  her  fellow-provinces  would  go, 
Rather  than  hazard  to  have  you  her  foe. 

Several  years  later,  after  the  restoration,  in  the 
year  1665,  Waller  wrote  a  poem  entitled :  Instruction 


TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS        315 

to  a  painter.  For  the  dr ailing  of  the  posture  and  the 
progress  of  his  Majesty's  forces  at  sea,  under  the 
command  of  his  Highness-Royal;  together  ivith  the 
battle  and  victory  obtained  over  the  Dutch,  June  3, 
1665. 

In  this  poem  he  describes  the  battle  in  which  the 
Dutch  admiral  Wassenear-Obdam,  with  his  flagship, 
was  blown  up,  after  which  the  Dutch  fleet  retired  to 
the  coast  of  Holland.  He  calls  the  Hollanders : 

Those  greedy  mariners,  out  of  whose  way 
Diffusive  Nature  could  no  region  lay, 
At  home,  preserved  from  rocks  and  tempests,  lie, 
Compelled,  like  others,  in  their  beds  to  die. 
Their  single  towns,  the  Iberian  armies  pressed ; 
We  all  their  provinces  at  once  invest; 
And,  in  one  month,  ruin  their  traffic  more 
Than  that  long  war  could  in  an  age  before. 

Yet,  the  poet  cannot  deny  that  the  Dutch  still  had 
some  soldiers  and  some  ships : 

Meanwhile,  like  bees,  when  stormy  winter's  gone, 

The  Dutch  (as  if  the  sea  were  all  their  own) 

Desert  their  ports,  and,  falling  in  their  way, 

Our  hamburg  merchants  are  become  their  prey. 

Thus  flourish  they,  before  the  approaching  fight; 

As  dying  tapers  give  a  blazing  light 

To  check  their  pride,  our  fleet,  half-victualled  goes ; 

Enough  to  serve  us  till  we  reach  our  foes; 

Who  now  appear  so  numerous  and  bold, 

The  action  worthy  of  our  arms  we  hold. 

A  greater  force  than  that  which  here  we  find, 

Ne'er  pressed  the  ocean,  nor  employed  the  wind. 

The  death  of  Van  Wassenear-Obdam  is  described  as 
follows : 

Against  him  first  Obdam  his  squadron  leads 
Proud  of  his  late  success  against  the  Swedes; 
Made  by  that  action,  and  his  high  command, 


316        TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH    WARS 

Worthy  to  perish  by  a  prince's  hand. 

The  tall  Batavian  in  a  vast  ship  rides, 

Bearing  an  army  in  her  hollow  sides; 

Yet,  not  inclined  the  English  ship  to  board, 

More  on  her  guns  relies,  than  on  his  sword; 

From  whence  a  fatal  volley  we  received ; 

It  missed  the  Duke,  but  his  great  heart  is  grieved; 

Three  worthy  persons  from  his  side  it  tore, 

And  dyed  his  garment  with  their  scattered  gore. 

Happy !  to  whom  this  glorious  death  arrives, 

More  to  be  valued  than  a  thousand  lives! 

On  such  a  theatre  as  this  to  die, 

For  such  a  cause,  and  such  a  witness  by! 

Who  would  not  thus  a  sacrifice  be  made, 

To  have  his  blood  on  such  an  altar  laid? 

The  rest  about  him  struck  with  horror  stood 

To  see  their  leader  covered  o'er  with  blood. 

So  trembled  Jacob,  when  he  thought  the  stains 

Of  his  son's  coat  had  issued  from  his  veins. 

He  feels  no  wound  but  in  his  troubled  thought, 

Before,  for  honor,  now,  revenge  he  sought; 

His  friends  in  pieces  torn,   (the  bitter  news 

Not  brought  by  Fame)   with  his  own  eyes  he  views. 

His  mind  at  once  reflecting  on  their  youth, 

Their  worth,  their  love,  their  valour,  and  their  truth, 

The  joys  of  court,  their  mothers,  and  their  wifes, 

To  follow  him,  abandoned, — and  their  lives! 

He  storms   and  shoots,  but  fiying  bullets  now, 

To  execute  his  rage,  appear  too  slow ; 

They  miss,  or  sweep  but  common  souls  away; 

For  such  a  loss  Obdam  his  life  must  pay. 

Encouraging  his  men,  he  gives  the  word, 

With  fierce  intent  that  hated  ship  to  board, 

And  make  the  guilty  Dutch,  with  his  own  arm, 

Wait  on  his  friends,  while  yet  their  blood  is  warm. 

His  winged  vessel  like  an  eagle  shows, 

When  through  the  clouds  to  truss  a  swan  she  goes ; 

The  Belgian  ship  unmoved,  like  some  huge  rock 

Inhabiting  the  sea,  expects  the   shock. 

From  both  the  fleets  men's  eyes  are  bent  this  way, 

Neglecting  all  the  business  of  the  day, 

Bullets  their  flight,  and  guns  their  noise  suspend; 


TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS        317 

The  silent  ocean  does  the  event  attend, 
Which  leader  shall  the  doubtful  victory  bless, 
And  give  an  earnest  of  the  war's  success; 
When  Heaven  itself,   for  England  to  declare 
Turns  ship,  and  men,  and  tackle,  into  air. 

Shortly  before  the  marriage  of  Prince  William  of 
Orange,  the  future  king  of  England,  with  Mary,  the 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  York,  who  later  became 
King  James  II,  Waller  wrote  two  poems,  one  Of  the 
Lady  Mary,  and  another  To  the  Prince  of  Orange  in 
1677.  Both  are  gems  of  poetry,  and  interesting 
enough  to  be  given  here  in  full. 

OF  THE  LADY  MARY 

As   once  the  lion  honey  gave 

Out  of  the  strong  such  sweetness  came ; 

A  royal  hero,  no  less  brave, 

Produced  this  sweet,  this  lovely  dame. 

To  her  the  prince,  that  did  oppose 

Such  mighty  armies  in  the  field, 
And    Holland    from    prevailing   foes  , 

Could  so  well  free,  himself  does  yield. 

No  Belgia's   fleet    (his  high  command) 
Which  triumphs  where  the  sun  does  rise, 

Nor  all  the  force  he  leads  by  land, 

Could  guard  him  from  her  conquering  eyes. 

Orange,  with  youth,  experience  has; 

In   action  young,   in  council   old ; 
Orange  is,  what  Augustus  was, 

Brave,  wary,  provident,  and  bold. 

On  that  fair  tree  which  bears  his  name, 

Blossoms  and  fruit  at  once  are  found; 
In  him  we  all  admire  the  same, 

His  flowery  youth  with  wisdom  crowned ! 


318        TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS 

Empire  and  freedom  reconciled 

In  Holland  are  by  great  Nassau ; 
Like  those  he  sprung  from,  just  and  mild, 

To  willing  people  he  gives  law. 

Thrice  happy  pair!  so  near  allied 

In  royal  blood,  and  virtue  too! 
Now  Love  has  you  together  tied, 

May  none  this   triple   knot  undo ! 

The  church  shall  be  the  happy  place 

Where  streams,  which  from  the  same  source  run, 
Though  divers  lands  awhile  they  grace, 

Unite  again,  and  are  made  one. 

A  thousand  thanks  the  nation  owes 

To  him  that  does  protect  us  all; 
For  while  he  thus  his  niece  bestows, 

About  our  isle  he  builds  a  wall; 

A  wall !  like  that  which  Athens  had, 

By  the  oracle's  advice,  of  wood; 
Had  theirs  been  such  as  Charles  has  made, 

That  mighty  state  till  now  had  stood. 


To  THE  PRINCE  OF  ORANGE  IN  1677 

Welcome,  great  Prince,  unto  this  land, 
Skilled  in  the  arts  of  war  and  peace, 

Your  birth  does  call  you  to  command, 
Your  nature  does  incline  to  peace. 

When  Holland,  by  her  foes  oppressed 
No   longer  could   sustain  their  weight; 

To  a  native  prince  they  thought  it  best 
To  recommend  their   dying  state. 

Your  very  name  did  France  expel; 

Those  conquered  towns  which  lately  cost 
So  little  blood,  unto  you  fell 

With  the  same  ease  they  once  were  lost 


TIME   OF   THE  ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS        319 

Twas  not  your  force  did  them  defeat; 

They  neither  felt  your  sword  nor  fire; 
But  seemed  willing  to  retreat, 

And  to  your  greatness  did  conspire. 

Nor  have  you  since  ungrateful  been, 

When  at  Seneff  you  did  expose, 
And  at  Mount  Cassel,  your  own  men 

Whereby  you  might  secure  your  foes. 

Let  Maestricht's  siege  enlarge  your  name, 

And  your   retreat  at   Charleroy; 
Warriors  by  flying  may  gain  fame 

And  Parthian-like  their  foes  destroy. 

I 
Thus  Fabius  gained  repute  of  old, 

When   Roman  glory  gasping  lay; 
In  council  slow,  in  action  cold, 

His   country   saved,   running  away. 

What  better  method  could  you  take? 

When  you  by  beauty's  charm  must  move. 
And  must  at  once  a  progress  make, 

I'  th'  stratagems  of  war  and  love. 

He  that  a  princess'  heart  would  gain, 

Must   learn    submissively   to  yield ; 
The  stubborn  ne'er  their  ends  obtain ; 

The  vanquished  masters  are  o'   the  field. 

Go  on,  brave  Prince,  with  like  success, 

Still  to  increase  your  hoped  renown, 
Till  to  your  conduct  and  adress, 

Not  to  your  birth,  you  owe  a  crown 

Proud  Alva  with  the  power  of  Spain 

Could  not  the  noble  Dutch  enslave; 
And  wiser  Parma  strove  in  vain 

For  to  reduce  a  race  so  brave. 

They  now  those  very  armies  pay, 
By  which  they  were  forced  to  yield  to  you; 


320        TIME    OF   THE   ANGLO-DUTCH   WARS 

Their  ancient  birthright  they  betray, 
By  their  own  votes  you  them  subdue. 

Who  can  then  liberty  maintain 

When  by  such  arts  it  is  withstood? 

Freedom  to  princes  is  a  chain 

To  all  that  spring  from  royal  blood. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

HOLLAND'S  INFLUENCE  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILL- 
IAM III,  KING  OF  ENGLAND  AND  STADHOLDER  OF 
HOLLAND.  DANIEL  DE  FOE,  MATTHEW  PRIOR, 
BURNET  AND  LOCKE. 

The  time  of  the  glorious  English  revolution  in 
1688,  was  different  from  that  of  the  Anglo-Dutch 
wars,  during  Cromwell's  Republic,  and  after  the  restor- 
ation of  the  Stuarts.  Enmity  and  hatred  between 
Holland  and  England  gave  place  to  a  confederation 
between  the  two  nations  against  one  foe,  Louis  XIV 
of  France,  who  threatened  all  Protestantism  in  Eng- 
land as  well  as  in  Holland,  with  extirpation.  Pro- 
testantism in  its  last  and  great  struggle  for  freedo,^ 
and  existence,  found  in  Prince  William  III  a  leader, 
both  in  politics  and  on  the  battlefield,  able  enough  to 
match  the  French  intrigues  as  well  as  the  French 
armies.  Married  to  the  noble  Mary,  daughter  of 
James  II,  a  princess,  whose  lovely  character  and  great 
devotion  to  her  husband,  and  to  the  cause  of  Protes- 
tantism enabled  her  to  give  him  the  best  assistance 
that  anybody  could  imagine,  William  was  called  to  a 
great  task,  which  he  notwithstanding  all  difficulties, 
in  Holland  as  well  as  in  England,  performed  in  the 
most  splendid  way. 

The  feelings  in  England  towards  Holland  were 
now  better  than  during  the  period  of  the  Anglo-Dutch 
wars,  yet,  there  remained  many  malcontents,  some 
of  whom  were  the  zealous  adherents  of  Catholicism, 

21  321 


322  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

and  of  the  Stuarts,  while  others  exaggerated  Eng- 
lish patriotism  against  the  Dutch,  whom  they  tried 
to  discredit  in  the  eyes  of  the  English  people  by  call- 
ing them  "foreigners."  As  late  as  the  year  1701  a 
pamphlet  entitled  "The  Foreigners/'  was  written  by 
one  Mr.  Tutchin,  in  which,  says  De  Foe,  "the  author 
fell  personally  upon  the  king  himself,  and  then  upon 
the  Dutch  nation.  And  after  having  reproached  his 
Majesty  with  crimes,  that  his  worst  enemies  could  not 
think  of  without  horror,  he  sums  up  all  in  the  odious 
name  of  Foreigner."  "This,"  says  De  Foe,  "filled  me 
with  a  kind  of  rage  against  the  book,  and  gave  birth 
to  a  trifle,  which  I  never  could  hope  should  have  met 
with  so  general  an  acceptance  as  it  did."  This  "trifle," 
was  the  famous  satire  entitled  "The  Trueborn  Eng- 
lishman" by  Daniel  De  Foe,  1701,  a  poem  of  more 
than  six  hundred  lines,  in  which  the  author  of  Robin- 
son Crusoe  displayed  such  splendid  polemical  ability 
that  this  poem  has  maintained  itself  till  the  present 
day  as  one  of  the  classics  of  English  literature.  "Pos- 
sibly," says  the  author  in  the  Preface,  "somebody  may 
take  me  for  a  Dutchman,  in  which  they  are  mistaken, 
but  I  am  one  that  would  be  glad  to  see  Englishmen 
behave  themselves  better  to  strangers,  and  to  govern- 
ors also,  that  one  might  not  be  reproached  in  foreign 
countries  for  belonging  to  a  nation  that  wants  man- 
ners. I  assure  you,  gentlemen,  strangers  use  us  bet- 
ter abroad,  and  we  can  give  no  reason  but  our  ill 
nature  for  the  contrary  here.  Methinks  an  English- 
man, who  is  so  proud  of  being  called  a  good  fellow, 
should  be  civil.  And  it  cannot  be  denied  but  we  are, 
in  many  cases  and  particularly  to  strangers,  the  most 
churlish  people  alive.  As  to  vices,  who  can  dispute 
our  intemperance,  while  an  honest  drunken  fellow 
is  a  character  in  a  man's  praise !  All  our  reformations 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          323 

are  banters,  and  will  be  so  till  our  magistrates  and 
gentry  reform  themselves,  by  way  of  example;  then, 
and  not  till  then,  they  may  be  expected  to  punish 
others  without  blushing."  "As  to  our  ingratitude" 
(viz.  towards  William  III  in  bringing  about  the 
Glorious  Revolution)  "I  desire  to  he  understood  of 
that  particular  people  who,  pretending  to  be  Protes- 
tants, have  all  along  endeavored  to  reduce  the  liber- 
ties and  religion  of  this  nation  into  the  hands  of  King 
James  and  his  Popish  powers,  together  with  such  who 
enjoy  the  peace  and  protection  of  the  present  govern- 
ment, and  yet  abuse  and  affront  the  king  who  pro- 
cured it,  and  openly  profess  their  uneasiness  under 
him — these,  by  whatsoever  names  or  titles  they  are 
dignified  or  distinguished,  are  the  people  aimed  at ; 
nor  do  I  disown  but  that  it  is  so  much  the  temper 
of  an  Englishman  to  abuse  his  benefactor,  that  I  could 
be  glad  to  see  it  rectified." 

So  he  did  not  write  as  a  Dutchman,  but  as  him- 
self a  true  Englishman,  trying  to  rectify  some  wrong 
ideas  among  his  own  people. 

As  to  the  main  argument,  against  which  he  wrote, 
viz.:  that  William. Ill  was  a  foreigner,  and  that  there- 
fore he  was  to  be  rejected,  the  author  explains  in  his 
Explanatory  Preface:  "True-born,  in  the  sense  of 
being  not  mixed  up  with  foreign  blood,  hardly  exist  in 
England  and  may  be  could  be  found  only  among  the 
Welsh,  the  Irish  or  the  Scots.  The  whole  English 
nation  is  a  mix-up  of  Romans,  Danes,  Saxons  and 
Normans,  Welsh  and  Scots.  "From  hence  I  only  in- 
fer that  an  Englishman,  of  all  men,  ought  not  to  de- 
spise foreigners,  as  such ;  and  I  think  the  inference  is 
just,  since  what  they  are  today,  we  were  yesterday, 
and  tomorrow  they  will  be  like  us." 

"But  when  I  see  the  town  full  of  lampoons  and 


324  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

invectives  against  Dutchmen,  only  because  they  are 
foreigners,  and  the  king  reproached  and  insulted  by 
insolent  pedants,  and  ballad-making  poets,  for  employ- 
ing foreigners,  and  for  being  a  foreigner  himself,  I 
confess  myself  moved  by  it  to  remind  our  nation  of 
their  own  origin,  thereby  to  let  them  see  what  a  ban- 
ter is  put  upon  ourselves  by  it;  since,  speaking  of 
Englishmen  ab  origine,  we  are  really  all  foreigners 
ourselves." 

"I  could  go  on  to  prove  it  is  also  impolitic  in  us 
to  discourage  foreigners;  since  it  is  easy  to  make  it 
appear  that  the  multitude  of  foreign  nations  who  have 
taken  sanctuary  here,  have  been  the  greatest  additions 
to  the  wealth  and  strength  of  the  nation ;  the  essen- 
tial whereof  is  the  number  of  its  inhabitants — nor 
would  this  nation  ever  have  arrived  to  the  degree  of 
wealth  and  glory  it  now  boasts  of,  if  the  addition  of 
foreign  nations,  both  as  to  manufactures  and  arms, 
had  not  been  helpful  to  it.  This  is  so  plain,  that  he 
who  is  ignorant  of  it,  is  too  dull  to  be  talked  with." 

"The  Satire  therefore  I  must  allow  to  be  just,  till 
I  am  otherwise  convinced ;  because  nothing  can  be 
more  ridiculous  than  to  hear  our  people  boast  of  that 
antiquity,  which  if  it  had  been  true,  would  have  left 
us  in  so  much  worse  condition  than  we  are  now ; 
whereas  we  ought  rather  to  boast  among  our  neigh- 
bours that  we  are  part  of  themselves,  of  the  same 
origin  as  they,  but  bettered  by  our  climate,  and,  like 
our  language  and  manufactures,  derived  from  them, 
and  improved  by  us  to  a  perfection  greater  than  they 
can  pretend  to." 

"This  we  might  have  valued  ourselves  upon  with-- 
out   vanity ;   but   to  disown   our   descent   from  them, 
talking  big  of  our  ancient  families,  and  long  originals, 
and  stand  at  a  distance  from  foreigners,  like  the  en- 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          325 

thnsiast  in  religion,  with  a  'stand  off.  I  am  more 
holy  than  thou,'  this  is  a  thing  so  ridiculous  in  a 
nation  derived  from  foreigners,  as  we  are,  that  I  could 
not  but  attack  them  as  I  have  done." 

Thus  far  I  quote  from  the  author  in  his  Explana- 
tory Preface.  This  poem  which  is  published  in  pamph- 
let form  was  enormously  successful. 

About  four  years  after  its  first  appearance,  the 
author  tells  us  that  he  himself  had  published  nine 
editions,  besides  which  it  had  been  printed  twelve 
times  by  others  without  his  concurrence.  Of  the 
cheap  editions  no  less  than  80,000  were  disposed  of, 
in  the  streets  of  London.1 

Finally  to  give  some  specimen  of  what  the  poem 
really  is,  since  it  is  too  long  to  reprint  in  full,  I  quote 
a  few  passages:" 

How  FOREIGNERS  CAME  TO  ENGLAND 

•The  Romans  first  with  Julius  Csesar  came 
Including  all  the  nations  of  that  name 
Gauls,  Greek  and  Lombards  and  by  computation 
Auxiliaries  or  slaves   of  ev'ry  nation. 
With  Hengist,  Saxons;  Danes  with  Sweno  came, 
In  search  of  plunder,  not  in  search  of  fame. 
Scots,  Picts  and  Irish  from  the  Hibernian  shore; 
And   conq'ring   William   brought   the    Normans   o'er. 
All  these  their  barb'rous  offspring  left  behind, 
The  dregs  of  armies,  they  of  all  mankind; 
Blended  with  Britons,  who  before  were  here, 
Of  whom  the  W'elsh  ha'  blest  the  character. 
From  these  amphibious,  ill-born  mob  began 
That  vain,  ill-natured  thing,  an  Englishman. 

THE  ENGLISH  NOBILITY 
The  great  invading  Norman  let  us  know 
What  conquerors  in  aftertimes  might  do. 
To  every  muskateer  he  brought  to  town 
He  gave  the  lands  which  never  were  his  own ; 

i  The    Works    of    Daniel    Defoe,    Edinburgh,    William    P.    Nimmo, 
P-    591- 


326  "        DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

When  first  the  English  crown  he  did  obtain 

He  did  not  send  his  Dutchmen  home  again.1 

No    reassumptions    in   his    reign   were   known, 

Davenant  might  there  ha'  let  his  book  alone. 

No  parliament  his  army  could   disband ; 

He  raised  no  money,  for  he  paid  in  land. 

He  gave  his  legions  their  eternal  station 

And  made  them  all  freeholders  of  the  nation. 

He  canton'd  out  the  country  to  his  men, 

And  every  soldier  was  a  denizen 

The  rascals   thus  enriched  he  called  them  Lords, 

To  please  their  upstart  pride  with  new-made  words 

And  here  begins  the  ancient  pedigree 

That  so  exalts  our  poor  nobility. 

'Tis   that  from   some  French  trooper  they  derive, 

Who  with  the  Norman  bastard  did  arrive ; 

The  trophies  of  the  families  appear; 

Some  show  the  sword,  the  bow,  and  some  the  spear, 

Which  their  great  ancestor,  forsooth,  did  wear.- 

These   in  the  herald's  register   remain, 

Their  noble  mean  extraction  to  explain; 

Yet  who  the  hero  was,  no  man  can  tell, 

Whether  a  drummer  or  a  colonel; 

The  silent  record  blushes  to  reveal 

Their  undescended  dark  original. 

THE  MEN  THAT  DESPISE  THE  DUTCH 

These  are  the  heroes  that  despise  the  Dutch 
And  rail  at  new-come  foreigners  so  much; 
Forgetting  that  themselves  are  all  derived 
From  the  most  scoundrel  race  that  ever  lived; 
A  horrid  crowd  of  rambling  thieves  and  drtmes, 
Who  ransack'd  kingdoms  and   dispeopled  towns. 
The  Pict  and  painted  Briton,  treach'rous  Scot, 
By  hunger,  theft  and  rapine,  higher  brought; 
Norwegian  pirates,  bucaneering  Danes, 
Whose  red-haired  offspring  everywhere  remains ; 
Who,  joined  with  Norman  French,  compound  the  breed 
From  whence  your  true-born  Englishmen  proceed. 


1  Here  Defoe  probably  alludes  to  the  Dutch  weavers,  whom 
William  the  Conqueror  brought  over  to  England  as  instructors  for 
his  people.  William  himself  married  a  Dutch  princess. 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          327 
INGRATITUDE  OF  ENGLAND  TOWARDS  THE  DUTCH 

If  e'er  this  nation  be  distressed  again 
To  whomsoever  they  cry,  they'll  cry  in  vain; 
To  heaven  they  cannot  have  the  face  to  look 
Or,  if  they  should,  it  would  but  heaven  provoke ; 
To  hope  for  help  from  man,  would  be  too  much, 
Mankind  would  always  tell  'em  of  the  Dutch: 
How  they  came  here  our  freedom  to  maintain, 
Were  paid,  and  cursed,  and  hurried  home  again; 
How  by  their  aid  we  first  dissolved  our  fears, 
And  then  our  helpers  damn'd  for  foreigners — 
'Tis  not  our  English  temper  to  do  better, 
For  Englishmen  think  ev'ry  one  their  debtor. 

WHY  KING  WILLIAM  MADE  SOME  FOREIGNERS  His 
INTIMATE  FRIENDS 

We  blame  the  king,  that  he  relies  too  much 

On  strangers,  Germans,  Huguenots  and  Dutch, 

And  seldom  does  his  great  affairs  of  state 

To  English  counsellors  communicate. 

The  fact  might  very  well  be  answered  thus: 

He  had  so  often  been  betrayed  by  us, 

He  must  have  been  a  madman  to  rely 

On  English  gentlemen's  fidelity; 

For,  laying  other  arguments  aside, 

This  thought  might  mortify  our  English  pride, 

That  foreigners  have  faithfully  obeyed  him, 

And  none  but  Englishmen  have  ever  betrayed  him; 

They  have  our  ships  and  merchants  bought  and  sold, 

And  bartered  English  blood  for  foreign  gold; 

First  to  the  French  they  sold  our  Turkey  fleet, 

And  injured  Talmarsh  next  at  Cameret; 

The  king  himself  is  sheltered  from  their  snares, 

Not  by  his  merits,  but  the  crown  he  wears; 

Experience  tells  us  'tis  the  English  way 

Their  benefactors  always  to  betray. 


328  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

THE  CONCLUSION 

Then  let  us  boast  of  ancestors  no  more, 

Or  deeds  of  heroes  done  in  days  of  yore, 

In  latent  records  of  the  ages  past, 

Behind  the  rear  of  time,  in  long  oblivion  placed  ; 

For  if  our  virtues  must  in  lines  descend 

The  merit  with  the  families  would  end 

And  intermixtures  would  most  fatal  grow. 

For  vice  would  be  hereditary  too ; 

The  tainted  blood  would  of  necessity 

Involuntary  wickedness  convey. 

Vice,  like  ill-nature,  for  an  age  or  two, 

May  seem   a  generation   to  pursue ; 

But  virtue   seldom   does   regard   the  breed : 

Fools  do  the  wise,  and  wise  the  fools  succeed. 

What  is  't  to  us  what  ancestors  we  had  ? 

If  good,  what  better?  or  what  worse,  if  bad? 

Examples   are   for  imitation   set, 

Yet  all  men   follow  virtue  with  regret. 

Could  but  our  ancestors   retrieve  their  fate, 

And  see  their  offspring  thus  degenerate ; 

How  we  contend  for  birth  and  names  unknown, 

And  build  on  their  past  actions,  not  our  own ; 

They'd  cancel  records,  and  their  tombs  deface, 

And  openly  disown  the  vile  degenerate  race ; 

For  fame  of  families  is  all  a  cheat, 

It's  personal  virtue  only  makes  us  great. 

Everybody  who  reads  these  fragments,  which  do 
not  amount  together  to  a  third  part  of  the  poem,  must 
recognize  that  there  is  a  naive  power,  combined  with  a 
charming  reality,  in  the  language  of  Defoe,  which 
made  him  dreadful  for  his  enemies,  and  a  not-to-be- 
neglected  help  for  his  friends.  During  several  years 
Defoe  used  his  great  abilities  as  publicist  in  serving 
the  party  of  the  glorious  revolution,  which  was  also 
the  party  of  all  Protestants,  both  in  England  and  in 
Holland.  In  the  midst  of  the  great  spiritual  struggle 
between  all  kinds  of  factions,  conflicting  opinions,  con- 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          329 

spiracies,  secret  and  confessed  hatred,  noble  tenden- 
cies and  selfish  aspirations,  Defoe  on  his  own  personal 
responsibility,  without  power  or  protection  back 
of  him,  fought  like  a  lonely  lion  for  the  great  cause, 
and  consequently  the  better  part  of  the  English 
nation,  the  common  citizens  admired  and  loved  him. 
Defoe  takes  suo  jure  not  only  an  honorable  place  in 
English  literature,  but  also  a  more  honorable  one  in 
that  important  and  most  critical  period  of  the  world's 
history,  and  in  the  history  of  Protestantism,  which  is 
called  the  Glorious  Revolution  of  1688. 

Defoe  was  a  born  writer,  and  his  influence  was  a 
considerable  one  with  the  masses  of  the  English  peo- 
ple, and  of  course,  made  him  many  enemies  among  the 
Roman  Catholics  and  the  secret  adherents  of  the 
Stuarts.  For  his  True  Born  Englishman  he  was 
amply  rewarded.  "How  this  poem  was  the  occa- 
sion," he  says  in  later  time,  "of  my  being  known  to 
his  Majesty,  how  I  was  afterwards  received  by  him, 
how  employed  abroad,  and  how,  above  my  capacity  of 
deserving,  rewarded,  is  no  part  of  the  present  case, 
and  is  only  mentioned  here  as  I  take  all  occasions 
to  do,  for  expressing  the  honour  I  ever  preserved  for 
the  immortal  and  glorious  memory  of  that  greatest 
and  best  of  all  princes  and  whom  it  was  my  honour 
and  advantage  to  call  master  as  well  as  sovereign, 
whose  goodness  to  me  I  never  forgot  and  whose 
memory  I  never  patiently  heard  abused  and  never  can 
do  so ;  and  who,  had  he  lived,  would  never  have  suf- 
fered me  to  be  treated  as  I  have  been  in  this  world."1 
After  the  death  of  King  William,  Defoe  continued  to 
defend  liberty  and  toleration  for  many  years,  but 
missing  his  noble  protector  and  persecuted  in  every 
way  that  was  possible  by  his  many  and  powerful 

1  Appeal  to   honour   and  justice,   quoted.      Works  of  Defoe,   p.   4. 


330  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

enemies,  he  died  in  1731,  a  poor  man.  Satisfied  with, 
and  totally  absorbed  in,  the  sovereignty  over  his  own 
field  as  a  writer,1  as  an  author  of  polemics,  and  as 
a  poet;  inspired  to  the  bottom  of  his  soul  by  the 
highest  principles  of  Protestantism  and  Democracy; 
a  staunch  defender  of  liberty  and  toleration  and  one- 
sidedly  attached  to  this  great  task  of  his  life,  like 
most  geniuses  in  history,  he  could  not  succeed  in  any 
other  business,  and  with  pity  we  see  that  after  the 
death  of  King  William,  a  protector  to  shield  his  do- 
mestic life,  and  to  guarantee  to  this  great  man  even 
a  decent  living  was  lacking.  At  the  time  when  Will- 
iam and  Mary  came  to  the  throne  in  1688,  Defoe,  born 
in  1 66 1,  was  still  a  youth,  but  was  nevertheless  at- 
tached already  with  his  whole  heart  to  the  great  cause, 
and  in  all  his  life  he  never  alludes  to  King  William 
but  in  language  of  deep  gratitude  and  intense  attach- 
ment. Scarcely  had  the  king  breathed  his  last,  when 
his  enemies  vented  their  hatred  in  the  most  indecent 
manner,  by  malignant  speeches,  toasts  and  lampoons. 
This  roused  Defoe's  indignation,  and  urged  him  again 
to  dip  his  pen  into  bitter  ink,  and  produce :  The  Mock- 
Mourners,  by  way  of  elegy  on  King  William,  1702. 
In  a  few  weeks  it  passed  through  five  large  editions. 
Defoe  was  a  man  with  a  character — a  splendid,  mag- 
nificent character.  The  transition  from  John  Dryden 
to  Daniel  Defoe,  is  that  from  darkness  to  the  light ; 
from  the  hireling  to  the  sovereignty  of  a  man  with 
sacred  principles;  from  a  spiritual  prostitute  to  the 
martyr  of  a  holy  cause ;  from  a  devilish  dividedness 
against  himself",  dissolving  itself  in  sarcastic  mockery 
with  every  cause,  to  the  serene  heavenly  steadfastness 
of  a  man  fighting  for  principles  which  were  dear  to 
him,  to  his  people,  to  his  sovereign  and  to  all  Protes- 

1  Defoe     wrote     upwards     of    250     distinct     productions.       Ijfe     of 
Defoe,    p.    4,   in    The    Works   of  Defoe. 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          331 

tantism.  Dryden  followed  the  example  of  the  man 
who  betrayed  his  Master,  after  having  eaten  his 
bread,  and  after  he  saw  that  suffering  for  his  Master's 
sake  were  coming;  and  he  did  this  not  once  but  re- 
peatedly ;  he  did  it,  as  far  as  we  know  even  with  some 
remorse  though  with  a  brazen  forehead  confessing 
himself  shamelessly,  "O  gracious  God !  how  far  have 
we  profaned  thy  heavenly  gift  of  poetry,"  which  words 
remind  us,  without  willing  it,  of  those  other  words : 
"I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent 
blood."  Defoe  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Apos- 
tles and  Prophets,  in  the  footsteps  of  his  Master  and 
in  those  of  all  the  heroes  and  martyrs  of  Christendom, 
sacrificing  all  his  cares  and  abilities,  to  the  higher 
ideals  of  life,  suffering  scorn  and  disdain,  persecu- 
tion and  poverty,  standing  for  the  honor  and  name 
of  his  protector,  not  only  so  long  as  he  enjoyed  his 
favor,  but  during  half  a  lifetime,  after  the  death  of 
his  king  had  made  all  protection  impossible.  It  is  not 
till  in  our  time  that  the  researches  of  William  Lee  x 
have  brought  to  light  how  important  a  part  Defoe 
played  in  bringing  forth  and  maintaining  the  blessing 
results  of  the  Glorious  Revolution.  A  star  of  such 
brilliancy  could  not  escape  attracting  again  and  again, 
the  attention  of  the  astronomer  until  its  real  value 
and  greatness  should  be  fixed  forever. 

Quite  another  character  from  Defoe,  was  Matthew 
Prior.  More  a  poet  than  a  hero,  he  served  King 
William  III  during  the  whole  time  of  his  reign,  was 
for  several  years  attached  to  the  English  Embassy  at 
the  Hague,  and  during  the  deliberations  followed  by 
the  treaty  of  peace  at  Ryswyck,  1697,  he  was  secretary 
to  the  Embassy.  At  the  Hague  he  wrote  his  witty 
English  Ballad  on  the  taking  of  Namur  in  1695,  a 

1  William  L,ee,  Life  and  newly  discovered  writings  of  Daniel 
Defoe,  3  Vols.  London,  J.  Camden  Hotten,  1869. 


332  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

parody  of  Boileau's  Ode  on  the  capture  of  Namur  by 
the  French  three  years  before.  In  1698  he  was  sent  to 
Paris  as  secretary  to  the  English  Embassy.  In  one  of 
his  letters  to  Lord  Halifax  he  tells  how  he  saw  the 
exiled  English  King  James  II  at  the  court  of  the 
French  King :  "I  faced  old  James  and  all  his  court  the 
other  day  at  St.  Cloud.  Vive  Guillaume.  You  never 
saw  such  a  strange  figure  as  the  old  bully  is,  lean, 
worn,  and  ri veiled,  not  unlike  Neale  the  projector.  The 
queen  looks  melancholy,  but  otherwise  well  enough: 
their  equipages  are  all  very  ragged  and  contempt- 
able."1  But  after  the  death  of  King  William,  when 
the  influence  of  the  Tories  was  in  the  ascendant,  Prior 
joined  their  ranks  and  later  became  a  close  friend  of 
Lord  Bolingbroke.  During  his  early  days  in  the  poli- 
tical business  at  the  Hague  he  tells  us,  "he  had  enough 
to  do  in  studying  French  and  Dutch."*  Prior  was  not 
a  man  after  the  heart,  either  of  Defoe  or  of  Burnet. 
To  please  those  ironsides  of  King  William  a  stronger 
and  more  heroic  character  was  required  than  that  of 
Prior.  His  devotion  to  the  cause  of  King  William 
and  Queen  Mary  was  nevertheless  an  honest  one,  as 
the  spirit  of  his  poems  abundantly  show.  Some  of 
these  poems  are  really  beautiful,  and  full  of  tender 
feelings  and  noble  thoughts.  By  his  diplomatic  career 
he  had  the  best  opportunity  to  learn  the  policy  of 
William  III,  an  opportunity,  such  as  was  given  to  very 
few.  Prior  was  secretary  to  Lord  Dursley,  but  that 
nobleman's  gout  gave  the  young  man  many  oppor- 
tunities for  personal  communication  with  his  sover- 
eign. His  readiness  and  address  caused  William  to 
give  him  the  half-serious  nickname  of  "Secretaire  du 
Roy"  and  his  appointment  of  "Gentleman  to  the  King's 


1  Life   of  Prior,   by    Reginald   Brinsley  Johnson,    in   Frior's   Works, 
London,     1892,    p.    26. 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          333 

Bedchamber."1  And  his  verses  bear  witness  of  the 
intimate  information,  which  he  by  his  position  had 
daily  opportunity  to  acquire. 

In  his  famous  "Carmen  Seculare  for  the  year 
1700"  he  wrote  about  William  III,  Prince  of  Orange, 
for  instance  these  lines: 

Whither   wouldst  thou    further  look? 

Read  William's  acts,  and  close  the  ample  book; 

Peruse  the  wonders  of  his  dawning  life: 

How,  like  Alcides,  he  began; 

With  infant  patience  calm'd  seditious  strife,  * 

And  quell'd  the  snakes  which  round  his  cradle  ran. 

Describe  his  youth,  attentive  to  alarms, 

By  dangers  form'd,  and  perfected  in  arms ; 

When  conq'ring,  mild;  when  conquer'd,  not  disgrac'd  ; 

By  wrongs  not  lessen'd,  nor  by  triumphs  rais'd  : 

Superior  to  the  blind   events 

Of  little  human  accidents; 

And   constant   to  his    first  decree, 

To  curb  the  proud,  to  set  the  injur'd  free; 

To  bow  the  haughty  neck,  and  raise  the  suppliant  knee. 

His  opening  years  to  riper  manhood  bring ; 
And  see  the  hero  perfect  in  the  king: 
Imperious  arms  by  manly  reasons  sway'd, 
And  power  supreme  by  free'  consent  obey'd ; 
With   how  much  haste  his   mercy  meets  his    foes : 
And  how  unbounded  his  forgiveness  flows ; 
With  what  desire  he  makes  his   subjects  bless'd, 
His  favours  granted  ere  his  throne  adress'd  : 
What  trophies  o'er  our  captiv'd  hearts  he  rears, 
By  arts  of  peace  more  potent,  than  by  wars : 
How  over  himself  as  o'er  the  world,  he  reigns, 
His   morals   strengthening   what   his   law    ordains. 

Through  all  his  thread  of  life  already  spun, 

Becoming  grace  and  proper  action  run  : 

The  piece  by  Virtue's  equal  hand  is  wrought, 


Works    of    Prior,    Biography,    p.    XXIII. 


334  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

Mixt  with  no  crime,  and  shaded  with  no  fault; 

No  footsteps  of  the  victor's  rage 

Left  in  the  camp  where  William  did  engage: 

No  tincture  of  the  monarch's  pride 

Upon  the  royal  purple  spied ; 

His   fame,   like  gold,  the  more  'tis  tried, 

The  more  shall  its  intrinsic  worth  proclaim ; 

Shall  pass  the  combat  of  the  searching  flame, 

And  triumph  o'er  the  vanquish'd  heat, 

For  ever  coming  out  the  same, 

And  losing  nor  its  lustre  nor  its  weight. 

This  is  just  as  true  to  history,  as  it  is  beautifully 
told  and  reminds  us  of  those  other  lines,  intended  to 
describe  King  William's  character : 

When  certain  to  o'ercome,  inclined  to  save, 
Tardy  to  vengeance  and  with  mercy  brave 

or  those  others : 

Serene  yet  strong,   majestic  yet  sedate, 
Swift   without  violence,   without  terror  great. 

That  Prior  understood  something  of  William's 
great  task,  the  following  lines  may  show : 

Europe  freed,  and  France  repelled, 

The  hero  from  the  height  beheld ; 

He  spoke  the  word,  that  war  and  rage  should  cease; 

He  bid  the  Maas  and  Rhine  in  safety  flow; 

And  dictated  a  lasting  peace 

To  the  rejoicing  world  below; 

To  rescued  states,  and  vindicated  crowns, 

His  equal  hand  prescribed  their  ancient  bounds ; 

Ordained  whom  every  province  should  obey; 

How  far  each  monarch  should  extend  his  sway; 

Taught  them  how  clemency  made  power  revered ; 

And  that  the  prince  beloved  was  truly  feared. 

Firm  by  his  side  unspotted  Honour  stood, 

Pleased  to  confess  him  not  so  great  as  good; 

His  head  with  brighter  beams  fair  Virtue  decked 

Than   those  which  all  his  numerous  crowns  reflect; 

Established  freedom  clapped  her  joyful  wings ; 

Proclaimed  the  first  of  men,  and  best  of  kings. 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          335 

In  the  phrase  "unspotted  Honour/'  the  poet  alludes 
to  Queen  Mary,  who  was  William's  wife,  and  here 
too,  indeed,  he  does  not  tell  anything  more  than  the 
simple  truth,  although  far  less  than  the  whole  truth. 
Whatever  thousand-fold  crimes  may  have  been  com- 
mitted by  the  Stuarts,  and  whatever  horrible  characters 
the  House  of  Stuart  may  have  produced,  there  is  at 
least  one  glorious  spot  in  its  bloody  and  scandalous 
history,  and  that  glorious  spot  is  Queen  Mary.  Who- 
ever has  read  the  secret  diary  and  the  letters  of  Mary, 
in  which  she  from  day  to  day  expressed  her  sorrows 
and  her  joy,  her  unmatched  love  for  her  William,  her 
devotedness  to  him,  her  clear  understanding  of  his 
great  task,  her  piety  and  at  the  same  time  her  womanly 
strength  to  assist  her  husband, — whoever  has  looked 
through  those  precious  pages  full  of  the  most  tender 
affections,  must  confess  that  neither  Holland  nor  Eng- 
land ever  saw  a  princess  at  the  side  of  a  sovereign, 
with  a  character  superior,  or  even  equal  to  that  of 
Queen  Mary.  Prior  did  not  know  these  sacred  pages, 
because  they  did  not  become  accessible  to  the  public 
until  more  than  150  years  later,  but  Prior  knew  the 
Prince  and  the  Queen  personally,  and  his  personal 
impression  gives  a  testimony  not  differing  from  the 
truth  as  discovered  in  her  secret  papers.  In  his  Ode, 
presented  to  the  King  on  his  Majesty's  arrival  in  Hol- 
land after  the  death  of  the  Queen,  1695,  the  poet 
sings : 

For   her  the  wise  and   great  shall  mourn; 
When   late   records  her   deeds   repeat; 
Ages  to  come,  and  men  unborn 
Shall  bless  her  name  and  sigh  her  fate. 

Fair  Albion  shall,   with   faithful  trust, 
Her  holy  Queen's  sad  reliques  guard; 


•  336  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

Till  Heaven   awakes  the  precious   dust, 
And  gives  the  saint  her  full  reward. 

And  in  another  place  in  the  same  Ode,  he  writes: 

She   was    instructed   to   command, 
Great  king,  by  long  obeying  thee ; 
Her  sceptre,  guided  by  thy  hand 
Preserved  the  isles,  and  ruled  the  sea. 

As  William  married  Mary  when  she  was  only  six- 
teen years  of  age,  while  he  was  twenty-six,  and  took 
her  out  of  her  English  life  to  Holland,  the  develop- 
ment of  Mary's  beautiful  character  is  certainly  no 
little  credit  for  the  Prince.  To  this  probably  the  poet 
alludes  when  he  says-: 

From   Mary's   glory,   Angels   trace 
The  beauty  of  her  partner's   soul. 

But  not  only  do  the  names  of  King  William  and 
Queen  Mary  connect  the  name  of  Prior  with  Holland. 
During  his  years  of  abode;  in  Holland,  Prior  studied 
the  Dutch  language,  and  made  himself  acquainted  with 
Dutch  literature,  as,  for  instance,  he  shows  in  one 
poem,  entitled: 

A  PASSAGE  IN  THE  MORIAE  ENCOMIUM  OF  ERASMUS 
IMITATED 

In  awful  pomp,  and  melancholy  state 
See   settled  Reason  on   the  judgment  seat; 
Around  her  crowd  Distrust  and  Doubt  and  Fear, 
And   thoughtful  Foresight,   and   tormenting   Care : 
Far  from  the  throne,  the  trembling  Pleasures  stand 
Chained  up,  or  exiled  by  her  stern  command 
Wretched   her    subject,   gloomy   sits    the   queen; 
Till   happy   Chance   reverts   the   cruel   scene : 
And   apish  Folly  with  her  wild  resort 
Of  wit  and  jest  desturbs  the  solemn  court. 

See    the    fantastic  minstrelsy   advance 
To  breathe  the  song,  and  animate  the  dance. 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          337 

Blest  the   usurper !     happy  the   surprise ! 

Her  mimic  postures  catch  our  eager  eyes; 

Her  jingling  bells  affect  our  captive  ear; 

And  in  the  sights  we  see,  and  sounds  we  hear, 

Against  our   judgment  she   our  sense  employs; 

The  laws  'of  troubled  Reason  she  destroys ; 

And  in  their  place  rejoices  to  indite 

Wild  schemes  of  mirth,  and  plans  of  loose  delight. 

Still  another  little  poem  of  Prior  reminds  us  of 
Dutch  influence,  it  is  as  follows : 

A  DUTCH  PROVERB 

Fire,  water,  woman,  are  man's  ruin ; 

Says   wise  professor  Van  der   Bruin. 

By  flames  a  house  I  hired  was  lost 

Last  year,  and  I  must  pay  the  cost. 

This  spring  the  rains  overflowed  my  ground ; 

And  my  best  Flanders  mare  was  drowned. 

A  slave  I  am  to  Clara's  eyes; 

The  gipsy  knows   her  power  and  flies. 

Fire,  water,  woman,   are  my  ruin; 

And  great  thy  wisdom  Van  der  Bruin. 

How  well  Prior  understood  the  character  of  his 
great  master,  King  William,  and  how  well  he  repre- 
sented him,  he  showed  for  instance  at  Paris,  where 
he  was  for  a  time  a  secretary  to  the  Earl  of  Port- 
land, the  English  ambassador.  "While. he  was  in  that 
kingdom,  one  of  the  officers  of  the  French  king's 
household,  showing  him  the  royal  apartments  and 
curiosities  at  Versailles,  especially  the  paintings  of  Le 
Brun,  wherein  the  victories  of  Louis  XIV  were  glori- 
fied, asked  him  whether  King  William's  actions  were 
to  be  seen  in  his  palace ;  'No  sir,'  replied  Mr.  Prior ; 
'the  monuments  of  my  'master's  actions  are  to  be  seen 
everywhere,  but  in  his  own  house.'  "l 

Another   famous  English  author,  whose  name  is 

1  British    Plutarch,    Life   of   Prior,    p.   31. 
22 


338          DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

closely  connected  with  Holland,  who  lived  several 
years  in  the  Netherlands,  learned  there  the  practice 
of  toleration,  married  a  Dutch  lady,  and  even  became 
a  naturalized  Dutch  citizen,  was  the  well  known  chap- 
lain of  William  and  Mary  at  the  Hague,  the  clergy- 
man and  historian,  scholar  and  polemic,  Gilbert  Bur- 
net.  Born  in  Edinburgh  in  1643,  Burnet  got  his  edu- 
cation in  Scotland,  and  after  having  finished  his 
studies  for  the  ministry  at  Glasgow,  went  to  England, 
stayed  for  six  months  in  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and 
then  took  a  voyage  to  Holland  and  France  in  1674. 
"At  Amsterdam  by  the  help  of  a  Jewish  Rabbi,  he 
perfected  himself  in  the  Hebrew  language,  and  like- 
wise became  acquainted  with  the  leading  men  of  the 
different  persuasions  tolerated  in  that  country ;  as  Cal- 
vinists,  Arminians,  Lutherans,  Anabaptists,  Brownists, 
Papists  and  Unitarians,  amongst  each  of  which,  he 
used  frequently  to  declare,  he  met  with  men  of  such 
unfeigned  piety  and  virtue,  that  he  became  fixed  in  a 
strong  principle  of  universal  charity,  and  an  invinci- 
ble abhorrence  of  all  severities  on  account  of  religious 
dissensions."1  The  practice  of  toleration,  as  he  saw 
it  in  Holland,  and  nowhere  else  at  that  time,  was  for 
Burnet  a  new  light  shining  in  the  darkness  of  perse- 
cution and  narrow-mindedness.  It  changed  the  whole 
system  of  his  thoughts.  As  a  man  thoroughly  con- 
verted to  the  principles  of  toleration,  Burnet  returned 
from  Holland  to  England,  the  England  of  the  Stuarts. 
After  that  time  he  could  not  help  trying  to  bring  over 
from  Holland  a  tolerant  spirit  into  the  minds  and  the 
hearts  of  his  own  nation.  He  looked  now  from  an- 
other angle  upon  the  tyranny  of  every  predominant 
party,  and  the  persecution  of  every  party  in  minority. 
Conflict  and  trouble  was  unavoidable,  as  a  great  part 

1  The    British    Plutarch,    Life    of   Burnet,   p.    50. 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          339 

of  his  compatriots  did  not  see  things  as  he  had  seen 
them  in  the  Netherlands.  Soon  after  he  was  ap- 
pointed professor  of  divinity  at  the  University  of 
Glasgow  the  Royalists  took  offense  at  his  opinions, 
and  brought  accusations  against  him,  by  which  he  saw 
himself  forced  to  quit  his  position  and  to  move,  first 
to  London,  where  also  after  some  years  it  became  in- 
tolerable for  him,  until,  with  the  accession  of  King 
James  II  to  the  throne,  he  obtained  leave  to  go  out 
of  the  kingdom  in  1685.  Burnet  then  visited  Paris, 
went  through  Italy,  and  stayed  at  Rome  for  a  while, 
but  his  intention  was  to  settle  down  in  the  Nether- 
lands. 

"In  1688,  he  came  to  Ubrecht,  with  an  intention 
to  settle  in  some  of  the  Seven  Provinces.  There  he 
received  an  invitation  from  the  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Orange,  to  whom  their  party  in  England  had  recom- 
mended him,  to  come  to  The  Hague ;  which  he  ac- 
cepted. He  was  soon  made  acquainted  with  the  sec- 
ret of  their  counsels  and  advised  the  fitting  out  of  a 
fleet  in  Holland  sufficient  to  support  their  designs  and 
encourage  their  friends.  This  and  the  account  of  his 
travels  in  which  he  endeavored  to  blend  popery  and 
tyranny  together  and  represent  them  as  inseparable, 
with  some  papers,  reflecting  on  the  proceedings  of 
England,  that  came  out  in  single  sheets  and  were  dis- 
persed in  several  parts  of  England,  most  of  which  Mr. 
Burnet  owns  himself  the  author  of,  alarmed  King 
James,  and  were  the  occasion  of  his  writing  twice 
against  him  to  the  Princess  of.  Orange ;  and  insisting, 
by  his  ambassador,  on  his  being  forbid  the  court; 
which,  after  much  importunity,  was  done,  though  he 
continued  to  be  trusted  and  employed  as  before,  the 
Dutch  ministers  consulting  him  daily.  But  that  which 
gave,  he  tells  us,  the  crisis  to  the  king's  anger,  was 


340          DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

the  news  of  Burnet's  being  married  to  a  considerable 
fortune  at  The  Hague." 

"To  put  an  end  to  his  frequent  conferences  with 
the  ministers,  a  prosecution  for  high  treason  was  set 
on  foot  against  him  both  in  England  and  in  Scotland ; 
but  Burnet  receiving  the  news  thereof  before  it  came 
to  the  States,  he  avoided  the  storm,  by  petitioning  for 
and  obtaining  without  any  difficulty,  a  bill  of  natural- 
ization in  order  to  accomplish  his  intended  marriage 
with  Mary  Scot,  a  Dutch  lady  of  considerable  for- 
tune, who,  with  the  advantage  of  birth,  had  those  of 
a  fine  person  and  understanding." 

"After  his  marriage  with  this  lady,  being  legally 
under  the  protection  of  Holland,  he  undertook,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Earl  of  Middleton,  to  answer  all  the  mat- 
ters laid  to  his  charge  and  added,  that,  being  now 
naturalized  in  Holland,  his  allegiance  was  during  his 
stay  in  these  parts,  transferred  from  his  Majesty  to 
the  States-General ;  and  in  another  letter,  that  if,  upon 
non-appearance  a  sentence  should  be  passed  upon  him, 
he  might,  to  justify  himself,  be  forced  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  the  share  he  had  in  affairs,  in  which  he  might 
be  led  to  mention  what  he  was  afraid  would  not  please 
his  Majesty. 

"These  expressions  gave  such  offense  to  the  Eng- 
lish court  that,  dropping  the  former  prosecution,  they 
proceeded  against  him  as  guilty  of  high  treason,  and 
a  sentence  of  outlawry  was  passed  upon  him  and  there- 
upon the  king  first  demanded  him  to  be  delivered  up 
and  afterwards  insisted  on  his  being  banished  the 
Seven  Provinces;  which  the  States  refused,  alleging, 
that  he  was  become  their  subject;  and  if  the  king  had' 
anything  to  lay  to  Dr.  Burnet's  charge,  justice  should 
be  done  in  their  court. 

"This  put  an  end  to  all  farther  applications  to  the 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          341 

States;  and  Dr.  Burnet,  secured  from  any  danger, 
went  on  in  assisting  and  forwarding  the  important 
affair  of  the  revolution. 

"He  wrote  also  several  pamphlets  in  support  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange's  designs  and  assisted  in  drawing 
up  his  Declaration  and  when  the  Prince  undertook 
the  expedition  to  England,  Dr.  Burnet  accompanied 
him  as  his  chaplain." 

"After  his  landing  at  Exeter  he  proposed  and  drew 
up  the  association  and  was  of  no  small  service  on  sev- 
eral occasions  by  a  seasonable  display  of  pulpit-elo- 
quence, to  animate  the  Prince's  followers  and  gain 
over  others  to  his  interest. 

"Nor  did  his  services  pass  unrewarded ;  for  King 
William  had  not  been  many  days  on  the  throne  be- 
fore Dr.  Burnet  was  advanced  to  the  seat  of  Bishop 
of  Salisbury,  in  the  place  of  Seth  Ward  who  died ; 
Dr.  Burnet  being  consecrated  May  31,  1689.  He  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  House  of  Lords  by  declaring 
for  moderate  measures  with  regard  to  the  clergy,  who 
scrupled  to  take  the  oaths  and  for  a  toleration  of  the 
dissenters."1 

Besides  many  pamphlets,  Burnet  wrote  two  great 
works,  the  History  of  my  own  time  and  The  History 
of  the  Reformation  which  are  standard  works  among 
the  literature  of  English  history,  and  in  all  his  pamph- 
lets and  works  we  feel  the  same  spirit  of  freedom  and 
toleration,  for  which  he,  at  so  early  a  time  in  his 
life,  received  an  inspiration  in  the  Netherlands. 

Another  man,  belonging  to  the  same  cycle  of  bril- 
liant stars  that  shine  around  the  two  grand  figures  of 
William  and  Mary,  and  who  was  inspired  by  the 
spirit  of  the  glorious  Republic  of  the  Low  Countries, 
was  John  Locke,  who  after  having  lived  in  Holland 

1  The   British   Plutarch,   Life   of  Burnet,   p.    55-58. 


342          DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

for  years,  came  back  to  England  with  the  Revolution 
of  1688.  His  main  task  lay  in  the  field  of  Philosophy, 
the  results  of  his  researches  may  in  some  respects  be 
doubtful,  but  his  love  for  liberty  and  toleration,  as 
well  as  the  brilliance  of  his  genius  are  unquestionable, 
while  his  personal  character,  and  even  his  piety,  have 
aroused  the  admiration  and  love  of  all  who  have  be- 
longed to  the  intimate  circle  of  his  relatives  and 
friends.  John  Locke  was  born  at  Wrington  in  Som- 
ersetshire in  the  year  1632 ;  was  very  carefully  edu- 
cated under  the  severe  leadership  of  his  father ; 
studied  physics  and  philosophy  at  Oxford ;  was  for 
many  years  under  the  protection  of  Lord  Ashley,  Earl 
of  Shaftesbury,  and  being  of  a  weak  physical  consti- 
tution, he  went  in  1675  to  Montpellier  in  France  to 
restore  his  health. 

From  Montpellier  he  went  to  Paris  where  he  met 
Mr.  Guenelon  a  celebrated  physician  from  Amster- 
dam, "who  held  anatomical  conferences  there  with 
great  reputation/'  and  when  in  1682  his  protector 
Shaftesbury,  prosecuted  by  the  Stuart  government  for 
high  treason,  escaped  and  fled  to  Holland,  John  Locke 
followed  him  thither."1  "He  had  not  been  a  year  in 
Holland,  when  he  was  accused  at  the  English  court  of 
having  written  certain  tracts  against  the  government ; 
and  though  another  person  was  afterwards  discovered 
to  be  the  author,  yet  being  observed  to  join  in  com- 
pany with  several  English  malcontents  at  The  Hague, 
this  conduct  was  communicated  to  our  resident  there, 
to  the  Earl  of  Sunderland,  then  Secretary  of  State, 
who  accompanied  the  king  therewith,  and  his  Majesty 
ordered  the  proper  methods  to  be  taken  for  expelling 
him  from  the  College,"  Locke  being  a  member  of 
Christ  Church  College  at  Oxford.  Since  that  time  it 

1  British    Plutarch,   Life    of   Locke,   p.    144. 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          343 

was  dangerous  for  Locke  to  return  to  England.  "In 
May,  1685,  after  accession  of  James  II  to  the  throne, 
the  English  envoy  at  The  Hague  demanded  him  to 
be  delivered  up  by  the  States-General,  upon  suspicion 
of  having  been  concerned  in  the  Duke  of  Monmouth's 
invasion.  This  obliged  him  to  lie  concealed  nearly 
for  twelve  months,  till  it  became  sufficiently  known 
that  he  had  no  hand  in  that  enterprise.  During  this 
privacy,  which,  by  the  assistance  of  some  friends, 
was  rendered  very  secure  from  any  danger  of  a  dis- 
covery, he  composed  his  first  letter  upon  Toleration, 
which  being  translated  from  the  Latin  original  into 
English  and  Dutch  was  printed  in  London."1 

"Towards  the  latter  end  of  1686  he  appeared  again 
in  public,  and,  in  the  following  year  he  formed  a 
weekly  assembly  at  Amsterdam,  with  Messieurs  Lim- 
borch  and  LeClerc,  who  were  joined  by  some  others 
in  the  view  of  holding  conferences,  upon  subjects  of 
learning.  These  two  divines  were  among  our  author's 
first  friends  in  Holland  and  he  held  a  correspondence 
with  both  of  them  till  the  day  of  his  death;  not  long 
after  which  there  came  out  several  letters  that  had 
passed  between  him  and  the  former,  whereby  it  ap- 
pears, that  Mr.  Limborch  was  very  serviceable  to  our 
author  as  well  with  respect  to  some  improvements  in 
his  Essay  on  Human  Understanding  as  to  his  Reason- 
ableness of  Christianity  and  on  the  other  hand  these 
favors  were  repaid  by  Mr.  Locke  in  procuring  him 
Archbishop  Tillotson's  assistance  in  his  History  of  the 
Inquisition  which  was  afterwards  dedicated  by  that 
author  of  his  grace.  As  to  Mr.  LeClerc,  the  dedica- 
tion of  his  Ontologia  to  our  author  shows  the  pro- 
found esteem  he  had  for  him.2 

1  Idem.,  p.   149- 

2  British  Plutarch,  Life  of  Locke,  p.   153- 


344          DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

In  1689  Locke  returned  to  England  in  the  fleet 
which  conveyed  the  Princess  of  Orange  to  her  con- 
sort. 

King  William  recognized  and  appreciated  Locke, 
as  one  of  the  powerful  defenders  of  toleration,  and 
"left  it  to  his  choice,  whether  he  would  be  envoy  at  the 
court  of  the  emperor,  that  of  elector  of  Brandenburgh, 
or  any  other,  where  he  thought  the  air  most  suitable 
to  him"  as  he  was  suffering  from  asthma  and  the  king 
himself  knew  what  that  meant.  "But  he  waived  all 
these  on  account  of  the  ill  state  of  his  health,  which 
disposed  him  gladly  to  accept  another  offer  that  was 
made  him  by  Sir  Francis  Masnam  and  his  lady,  of  an 
apartment  in  their  country-seat  at  Gates  in  Essex. 
This  situation  proved  in  all  respects  so  agreeable  to 
him,  that  he  spent  a  great  part  of  the  remainder  of 
his  life  at  it.  Locke  died  at  that  same  hospitable  home 
in  1704,  while  Mrs.  Masman  was  reading-  to  him  out 
of  the  Psalms,  which  he  asked  her  to  do  during  the 
last  hour  of  his  life."1 

From  the  facts,  mentioned  above,  we  see  that 
Locke  spent  no  less  than  six  years  in  Holland ;  that 
he  lived  there  mostly  in  the  circle  of  the  Arminians — 
the  Arminian  professors,  Limborgh  and  LeClerc  being 
his  intimate  friends.  In  the  Netherlands  he  found 
refuge,  friendship  and  scholarly  learning.  There  he 
wrote  his  treatise  on  Toleration;  there  he  continued 
the  researches  laid  down  in  his  Essay  on  Human  Un- 
derstanding; there  he  wrote  the  substance  of  his  later 
published  Thoughts  concerning  Education;  and  he 
published  his  Two  Treatises  of  Civil  Government  in 
defense  of  the  Revolution  of  1688  in  England  shortly 
after  he  left  Holland.  The  influence  which  Holland 
with  its  republican  institutions,  with  its  freedom,  with 

1  British    Plutarch,    Life    of    Locke,    p.    174. 


DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III          345 

its  many  scholars  and  famous  universities,  with  its 
generally  high  standard  of  education,  had  on  the 
development  of  so  subtle  and  tender  genius  as  Locke 
was,  can  hardly  be  over-estimated. 

At  the  time  when  William  of  Orange  came  to 
England  to  deliver  the  English  people  from  oppres- 
sion and  persecution,  and  to  save  all  Protestantism 
from  being  annihilated,  he  had  with  him  a  splendid 
army;  an  army  in  which  served  the  flower  of  the 
Huguenot  nobility,  of  German  and  English  refugees 
and  Dutch  soldiers  trained  in  the  struggle  for  liberty, 
an  army  of  men,  whose  slaughtered  relatives  and  dev- 
astated properties,  called  them  to  the  long  desired 
opportunity  of  facing  their  persecutors  on  equal  terms, 
and  who  found  their  happy  day  in  Ireland  on  the 
banks  of  the  Boyne.  But  there  was  still  another  army 
with  William  and  Mary ;  an  army  equipped  with  more 
decisive  weapons  than  sword  and  musket ;  an  army  of 
unlimited  spiritual  strength,  whose  victory  was  to  be 
won  in  the  very  heart  and  soul  of  the  English  na- 
tion, and  that  should  defeat  its  enemies  far  beyond 
the  borders  of  the  British  Isles;  an  army  in  whose 
ranks  a  Burnet  served,  whose  thundering  voice  from 
the  pulpit  sounded  through  Great  Britain  from  the 
Channel  to  the  Highlands  of  Scotland;  an  army  in 
which  a  John  Locke  fought  with  his  two-edged  sword 
of  logic,  human  understanding,  lifting  up  the  standard 
of  toleration,  and  smashing  the  arguments  of  pious 
tyranny  in  such  a  way  that  further  discussion  could  be 
met  with  a  smile ;  an  army  in  which  Daniel  Defoe, 
with  never-matched  satire  scourged  the  folly  and  cor- 
ruption of  the  tyrants,  pointing  out  to  the  nation 
that,  while  at  the  Stuart's  court  under  cover  of  pre- 
tended "divine  right"  the  most  frivolous  debauchery 
of  every  kind  was  raging,  at  the  same  time  the  masses 


346  DURING  THE  TIME  OF  WILLIAM  III 

of  the  most  honest  citizens  all  over  the  country  were 
crying  from  the  depth  of  their  misery  to  Heaven,  be- 
cause they  saw  their  dearest  ones  either  murdered  on 
the  scaffold  or  sighing  in  the  darkness  of  the  dun- 
geon; an  army  in  the  midst  of  which  the  lyric  voice 
was  heard  of  a  man  like  Prior,  who  saw,  and  there- 
fore praised  in  his  songs,  the  virtues  and  piety,  the 
modesty  and  the  God-given  strength  of  both  William 
and  Mary  in  leading  the  nation  to  safety  and  liberty ; 
an  army  not  of  foreigners,  but  of  the  best  English 
patriots,  trained  however  in  the  school  of  freedom 
and  toleration  at  the  other  side  of  the  Channel.  Here 
we  observe  the  influence  of  Holland  on  all  the  most 
edifying  parts  of  English  literature. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY. 
FIELDING,  SMOLLETT,  GOLDSMITH,  SOUTHEY  AND 
HENRY  TAYLOR 

Like  Greece,  like  Palestine,  like  Rome  and  like 
every  nation  that  has  contributed  to  the  development 
of  the  world's  history,  Holland  had  its  rise,  its  glory 
and  its  decline.  The  rise  of  the  Netherlands  goes  as 
far  back  as  the  origin  of  the  Flemish  cities,  and  the 
development  of  democracy  which  began  with  the  cru- 
sades. The  glorious  period  is  for  the  Southern  Neth- 
erlands that  from  1300  until  the  last  half  of  the  six- 
teenth century  when  the  Spanish  armies  began  their 
devastation,  and  for  the  Northern  provinces,  the  pres- 
ent Netherlands,  from  the  eighty-years  war,  until, 
after  the  period  of  William  III,  the  stadholder  of  Hol- 
land and  the  King  of  England.  During  the  eighteenth 
century  we  see  the  decline,  and  with  the  French  revo- 
lution, the  downfall,  of  the  great  Republic.  It  seems 
to  be  a  fact  with  every  leading  nation  in  the  world's 
history,  that  each  nation  has  a  certain  time  of  over- 
abundant energy,  a  triumphant  spirit  of  enthusiasm 
that  brings  it  to  the  highest  development  of  hu- 
man society  in  its  epoch,  but  that  after  this  period 
of  nearly  super-human  endeavor,  there  comes  a  period 
of  apparent  exhaustion,  of  inertia,  like  that  of  old  age 
in  human  life  and  it  has  never  happened  in  history  that 
any  one  of  those  nations,  in  which  the  energy  of  the 
human  race  has  for  a  certain  period  attained  its  high- 

347 


348  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

est  expression,  has  in  a  later  period  end  for  a  second 
time  regained  that  leadership.  Holland  in  the  eight- 
eenth century  was  in  her  time  of  decline,  approach- 
ing to  her  downfall,  with  a  future  certainty  of  some 
revival  in  the  nineteenth  century  but  never  destined  to 
regain  the  leading  position  which  it  had  held  for  cen- 
turies up  to  the  death  of  that  greatest  of  all  the  Princes 
of  Orange,  William  III,  King  of  England.  On  the 
contrary  England  in  the  eighteenth  century  was  grow- 
ing very  fast.  The  eighteenth  century  marks  for  Eng- 
land the  accession  of  the  British  empire  to  world 
power;  it  is  the  age  of  Samuel  Johnson,  the  age  of 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  of  Hogarth  and  of  Gainsbor- 
ough, ending  in  triumphs  even  over  the  short  but  des- 
perate empire  of  Napoleon.  The  Nelson-monument 
on  Trafalgar  Square  in  the  center  of  London  indi- 
cates the  very  place  where  for  the  time  being  the  cen- 
tre of  the  world's  trade  and  industry  was  to  be  found. 
Greece  was  once  the  leader  of  the  world  in  art  and 
literature,  but  the  great  task  of  Greece  once  having 
been  performed  the  time  of  Pericles  never  will  come 
back;  the  Roman  empire  of  "divus  Augustus,"' that 
gave  to  the  world  its  system  of  civil  law,  passed  away, 
never  to  return ;  the  Frankish  empire  of  Charlemagne, 
which  christianized  and  educated  Western  Europe, 
and  left  an  everlasting  blessing,  is  only  an  event  in 
the  history  of  many  centuries  ago;  the  French  empire 
of  "le  Roy  Soleil"is  no  more,  its  vanity  only  being 
reflected  in  the  ever-changing  fashion  of  to  day ;  Hol- 
land spent  its  'best  blood  and  its  greatest  energy  in 
securing  freedom  and  toleration  for  the  civilized  world, 
but  after  having  performed  this  grand  task,  it  may 
hold  a  respectable  position  among  the  nations  of  Eur- 
ope, but  the  time  of  its  glory,  the  time  of  William 
the  Silent  and  Maurice,  of  Frederick  Henry  and  Will- 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  349 

iam  III,  of  Rembrandt  and  Vondel,  of  Tromp  and  De 
Ruyter,  will  never  come  back;  England  at  the  height 
of  its  world  empire  and  Germany  as  its  rival  may 
continue  for  a  while,  but  old  Europe  as  a  wtwle,  de- 
vouring itself  by  the  most  horrible  war  in  history, 
sees  already  coming  the  time,  if  it  has  not  come  yet,  in 
which  America  will  lead  the  world';  the  overwhelming 
energy  of  the  New  World,  the  American  spirit  of  to- 
day, absorbing  elements  from  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth,  reuniting  the  human  race  in  her  national  life 
after  a  dissecting  process  of  many  centuries  in  the  old 
world,  presents  today  an  incomparable  aspect  of 
leadership,  such  as  only  our  modern  development  has 
been  able  to  produce.  Such  is  the  unchangeable  logic 
of  history,  and  as  sure  as  the  sun  rises  in  the  East 
and  walks  through  heaven  until  she  sets  in  the  West, 
so  sure  is  the  course  of  the  World's  history  from  its 
beginning  in  the  Eastern  empires  of  Babylon  and 
Egypt,  taking  its  course  through  the  European  conti- 
nent from  Greece  to  the  British  Isles,  until  its  light 
is  seen  on  Manhattan  and  Plymouth  Rock,  and  its 
full  glory  comes  over  a  tremendous  new  continent, 
brightening  the  valleys  of  the  Alleghenies  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  developing  a  world-empire  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific ;  an  empire  not  of 
fighting  monarchs  always  greedy  to  conquer  by  brute 
force,  but  an  empire  of  the  most  advanced  civiliza- 
tion which  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

Such  being  the  case,  we  cannot  be  surprised  by 
the  fact  that  since  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  England  exerted  more  influence  on  Holland 
than  Holland  on  England,  and  more  especially  that 
the  latter  influence  has  been  very  limited  indeed. 

Of  course  the  spirit  of  decline  was  not  felt  in 
equal  proportion  in  every  department  of  national  life. 


350  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

There  was  no  longer  in  Holland  any  more,  any  such 
righting  and  dominating,  triumphant  spirit  either  in 
the  army  or  in  the  navy ;  great  generals  and  admirals 
were  lacking;  most  Dutch  families,  grown  wealthy  by 
trade  and  industry  were  now  resting  on  their  victories 
in  beautiful  houses  along  the  canals  of  Amsterdam 
and  along  the  rivers  in  the  country.  But  the  univer- 
sities (especially  that  of  Leyden),  with  their  beautiful 
libraries  and  laboratories  maintained  pretty  well  their 
old  fame,  and  remained  among  the  best  centers  -of 
learning  and  scholarship  in  the  world.  So  it  happened 
that  even  during  the  eighteenth  century  hundreds  of 
English  and  specially  of  Scotch  students,  came  to 
Leyden  to  follow  for  some  years  special  courses  at 
the  University.  Amongst  these  English  students  at  the 
University  of  Leyden  we  find  at  least  two  men  who 
became  prominent  in  English  literature.  Henry  Field- 
ing and  Oliver  Goldsmith,  and  at  least  two  others, 
Smollett  and  S  out  hey,  who  show  in  their  works  im- 
pressions obtained  directly  from  Holland.  Henry 
Fielding  (1707-1754),  one  of  England's  first  novel- 
ists, well  known  for  his  Tom  Jones,  "the  boisterous, 
easy-going,  masculine  Henry  Fielding,"  the  greatest 
contrast  with  the  "sentimentalist,  water-drinker  and 
vegetarian  Richardson,"  the  satirist  in  literature,  as 
Hogarth  was  in  art,  after  having  studied  at  Eton 
College,  was  sent  to  the  University  of  Leyden  to  fin- 
ish his  education.  "When  most  of  his  companions," 
says  his  biographer  Leslie  Stephen  in  the  first  volume 
of  his  works,  "went  to  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  Field- 
ing for  some  reason  was  sent  to  Leyden.  He  lost  no 
time,  we  are  assured,  in  placing  himself  under  the 
celebrated  Vitriarius,  then  professor  of  civil  law,  and 
was  assiduous  in  attending  lectures  and  taking  notes. 
The  selection  of  Leyden  seems  rather  curious,  as  one 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  351 

would  fancy  that  the  celebrated  Vitriarius  had  little 
authority  in  Westminster."  When  writing  this,  Mr. 
Stephen  probably  did  not  know  much  about  Vitriarius 
and  the  condition  of  law  studies  at  that  time.  In  those 
days  it  was  .the  study  of  the  natural  law,  "jus  nat- 
urae" which  was  considered  as  the  highest  and  most 
promising  part  of  the  study  of  law/  Whoever  wished 
to  be  a  good  scholar  in  the  field  of  law,  had  to  study 
the  "jus  naturae."  And  it  was  just  that  study,  which 
professor  Vitriarius  had  made  a  specialty  of.  When, 
in  the  year  1720,  Vitriarius,  who  was  at  that  time 
professor  at  Utrecht,  accepted  the  call  from  JLeyden, 
he  opened  his  courses  with  an  oration  "de  Juris  na- 
turae necessitate  et  utilitate,"  a  very  vital  question  in 
the  study  of  law  during  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
it  looks  very  doubtful  whether  a  man  like  Vitriarius, 
who  was  so  well  up  to  date  for  his  time,  enjoyed  little 
authority  in  Westminster  Hall."  That  Mr.  Stephen 
gives  not  a  single  reason  for  his  statement  is  there- 
fore no  surprise. 

"Scotch  students  of  law  frequently  resorted  to 
Leyden,  for  example  the  immortal  Boswell,  a  gen- 
eration later;  and  medical  students,  like  Goldsmith 
and  Akenside  might  go  there  to  attend  lectures,  or  to 
obtain  a  degree."  John  Wilkes,  too,  was  sent  to  Ley- 
den  some  twenty  years  afterwards,  because  his  par- 
ents were  dissenters,  and  wished  to  protect  him  (as 
they  certainly  did)  from  the  contamination  of  English 
orthodoxy.  In  Fielding's  case,  it  seems  probable,  that 
pecuniary  considerations  were  already  coming  into 
play;  and  it  appears  that  as  funds  became  scarce,  he 
speedily  returned  to  London  with  that  famous  allow- 
ance of  200  pounds  a  year,  which  "anybody  might  pay 
who  would."  About  the  only  reference  to  his  Dutch 
experiences  which  I  have  noticed  in  Fielding's  works 


352  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

is  a  comparison  in  the  Journey  from  this  World  to  the 
Next.  An  offensive  smell  as  he  approaches  the  city 
of  diseases,  "very  much  resembled  the  savour  which 
travellers  in  summer  perceive  as  they  approach  to  that 
beautiful  village  of  the  Hague,  arising  from  those 
delicious  canals,  which,  as  they  consist  of  standing 
water,  do  at  that  time  -emit  odours  greatly  agreeable 
to  a  Dutch  taste,1  but  not  so  pleasant  to  any  other. 
Those  perfumes,  with  the  assistance  of  a  fair  wind, 
begin  to  affect  persons  of  quick  olfactory  nerves  at 
a  league's  distance,  and  increase  gradually  as  you  ap- 
proach." The  comparison  may  possibly  recall  Dante, 
but  it  does  not  throw  much  light  upon  Fielding's 
academical  career.  He  refers  also,  in  the  essay  on  the 
Increase  of  Robbers,  to  the  rarity  and  solemnity  of 
capital  punishment  in  Holland.2  Fielding  studied 
at  Leyden  during  the  years  1726-1728.  That  all  these 
English  students  at  the  University  of  Leyden,  as  a 
rule,  profited  more  from  their  life  among  the  Dutch 
people,  in  the  circles  of  the  University,  than  from 
the  courses  of  the  professors,  given  either  in  Dutch 
or  in  Latin,  can  surprise  nobody.  For  students  with 
literary  abilities  like  Fielding,  Goldsmith,  Boswell, 
Smollett  and  others,  nothing  could  be  more  educative 
than  to  observe  the  customs  and  habits  'of  a  foreign 
people,  in  their  greater  and  smaller  towns,  in  the 
peculiarities  of  their  homes,  their  dresses,  their  morals, 
their  religion,  their  art,  and  the  way  they  made  a 
living.  It  made  them  heed  the  differences  in  many 
respects  from  what  they  saw  at  home ;  it  opened  their 
eyes  to  the  peculiarity  of  all  common  things  in  life, 
because  they  learned  that  all  these  things  could  be 
different  and  in  reality  were  different  among  other 

1  Here    speaks    apparently    the    silly    scorn    of    that    innocent    pride 
by   which   so  many  an   English    patriot  has   brought  himself   to  ridicule. 

2  Stephens,  Biography   of  Fielding,  Vol.   I,  p.   VII  and  VIII. 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  353 

nations,  and  it  revealed  to  them  the  interest  of  describ- 
ing the  minutest  details  of  life  in  their  novels  and 
poems,  in  their  plays  and  narratives. 

Oliver  Goldsmith  (1728-1774),  who  studied  at 
Leyden  during  the  years  1754  and  1755,  shows  the 
same  experience.  Hardly  anything  in  his  works 
reminds  us  of  his  following  the  courses  of  the  pro- 
fessors, and  on  the  contrary  with  keen  observation 
he  looks  at  thousands  of  things,  which  he  saw  every- 
where around  him,  and  which  made  him  make  an 
antithesis  between  what  he  saw  at  home,  and  what 
he  saw  among  the  Dutch  people.  In  a  letter  to  his 
uncle,  Contarine,  written  from  Leyden,  "he  touches 
humorously  on  the  contrast  between  the  Dutch  about 
him  and  the  Scotch  he  has  just  left;  describes  the 
phlegmatic  pleasures  of  the  country,  the  ice-boats,  and 
the  delights  of  canal  travelling."  "They  sail  in  cov- 
ered boats  drawn  by  horses,"  he  says;  "and  in  these 
you  are  sure  to  meet  people  of  all  nations."  There 
the  Dutch  slumber,  the  French  chatter,  and  the  Eng- 
lish play  at  cards.  Any  man  who  likes  company  may 
have  it  to  his  taste.  "For  my  part,  I  generally  de- 
tached myself  from  all  society,  and  was  wholly  taken 
up  in  observing  the  face  of  the  country.  Nothing 
can  equal  its  beauty ;  wherever  I  turn  my  eye,  fine 
houses,  elegant  gardens,  statues,  grottos,  vistas  pre- 
sented themselves ;  but  when  you  enter  their  towns 
you  are  charmed  beyond  description.  No  misery  is 
to  be  seen  here ;  every  one  is  usefully  employed."1 
After  these  quotations  Mr.  Dobson  makes  the  just 
remark — Already,  it  is  plain,  he  was  insensibly  storing 
up  material  for  the  subsequent  "Traveller,"2  and  we 
may  add — He  was  training  himself  in  seeing  things, 
while  he  could  not  help  seeing  them,  because  they 

1  Austin   Dobson,    Life   of   Oliver   Goldsmith,   p.    35   and  36. 

2  Idem.,  p.  35. 

23 


354  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

were  so  different  from  what  his  eyes  were  accus- 
tomed to  see  and  so,  as  he  saw  things,  he  created  the 
possibility  of  describing  them.  On  the  contrary,  so 
far  as  his  life  in  the  University  is  concerned,  his 
biographer  says — "Little  is  known  in  the  way  of  fact, 
as  to  his  residence  at  Leyden.  Gaubius,  the  professor 
in  chemistry,  is  indeed  mentioned  in  one  of  his  works ; 
but  it  would  be  too  much  to  conclude  an  intimacy  from 
a  chance  reference.  From  the  account  of  a  fellow- 
countryman,  Dr.  Ellis,  then  a  student  like  himself, 
he  was,  as  always,  frequently  pressed  for  money,  often 
supporting  himself  by  teaching  his  native  language, 
and  then,  in  the  hope  of  recruiting  his  finances, 
resorting  to  the  gambling-table.  On  one  occasion, 
according  to  this  informant,  he  had  a  successful  run, 
butj  disregarding  the  advice  of  his  friend  to  hold  his 
hand,  he  lost  his  gains  almost  immediately.  By  and 
by  the  old  restless  longing  to  see  foreign  countries, 
probably  dating  from  the  days  when  he  was  a  pupil 
under  Thomas  Byrne,  came  back  with  redoubled  force. 
The  recent  death  of  the  Danish  savant  and  play- 
wright, Baren  de  Holberg,  who  in  his  youth  had  made 
the  tour  of  Europe  on  foot,  probably  suggested  the 
way;  and  equipped  with  a  small  loan  from  Dr.  Ellis 
he  determined  to  leave  Leyden.  Unhappily,  in  passing 
a  florist's,  he  saw  some  rare  bulbs,  which  he  straight- 
way transmitted  to  his  Uncle  Contarine.  His  imme- 
diate resources  being  thus  disposed  of,  he  quitted  Ley- 
den in  February,  1755,  with  only  one  clean  shirt  and 
no  money  in  his  pocket."1 

What  Goldsmith  later  in  his  poem  The  Traveller 
wrote  about  Holland  is  this : 

To  men  of  other  minds2  my  fancy  flies, 
Embosomed  in   the   deep,  where  Holland  lies. 
Methinks  her  patient  sons  before  me  stand 

1  Dobson,    Life    of    Oliver   Goldsmith,   p.    36. 

2  He    turns    from    France    to    Holland. 


HOLLAND'S   DECLINE  355 

Where  the  broad  ocean  leans  against  the  land 
And,  sedulous   to   stop  the  coming  tide, 
Lift  the  tall  rampire,1  artificial  pride 
Onward,   methinks,   and   diligently   slow, 
The  firm  connected  bulwark  seems  to  grow, 
Spreads  its  long  arms  amidst  the  watery  roar, 
Scoops   out  an   empire,  and  usurps  the  shore; 
While  the  pent  ocean,  rising  o'er  the  pile, 
Sees  an  amphibious  world  beneath  him  smile; 
The   slow   canal,   the  yellow-blossomed  vale     , 
The  willow-tufted  bank,  the  gliding  plain 
A  new  creation   rescued  from  his   reign. 

Thus,  while   around   the   wave-subjected   soil 
Impels   the  native   to   repeated   toil, 
Industrious   habits   in   each  bosom   reign, 
And  industry  begets  the  love  of  gain. 
Hence  all  the  good  from  opulence  that  springs, 
With  all  those  ills  superfluous  treasure  brings, 
Are    here   displayed.     Their   much-loved   wealth    imparts 
Convenience,    plenty,    elegance,    and    arts ; 
But  view  them  closer,  craft  and  fraud  appear; 
Even  liberty  itself  is  bartered  here: 
At  gold's   superior  charms  all   freedom  flies. 
The  needy  sell  it  and  the. rich  man  buys. 
A  land  of  tyrants  and  a  den  of  slaves, 
Here   wretches   seek   dishonourable   graves, 
And,  calmly  bent,  to  servitude  conform, 
*  Dull  as  their  lakes  that  slumber  in  the  storm. 

Heavens !     how  unlike  their  Belgic  sires  of  old ! 
Rough,    poor,   content,   ungovernably  bold, 
War  in  each  breast,  and  freedom  on  each  brow; 
How    much    unlike    the    sons    of   Britian    now! 

These  verses  show  clearly  the  master  mind  of  Gold- 
smith in  keen  observation.  His  eyes  were  open  for 
the  glory  of  the  Dutch  Republic  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries  and  his  admiration  is  unre- 
stricted. But  at  the  same  time  he  saw  the  decline  of 

i  "Rampire,  the  wall  of  a  dyke  or  canal." — ICd.  of  Goldsmith's 
works. 


356  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

Holland,  and  how  England  was  now  what  the  Nether- 
lands were  before.  No  historian  could  describe  it 
better  than  we  see  it  reflected  in  the  mirror  of  the 
poet's  mind,  and  expressed  in  these  inspired  lines.  In 
reading  them,  we  feel  a  contact  with  the  author  of 
The  Deserted  Village,  and  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield. 
How  different  are  the  impressions  which  another 
English  author  of  the  same  period,  viz.,  Smollett,  wrote 
down  from  a  trip  through  the  Netherlands  in  the 
eighteenth  century!  Tobias  George  Smollett  (1720 
1771)  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  four  great  Eng- 
lish novelists  of  the  mid-eighteenth  century,  the  other 
three  being  Richardson,  Fielding  and  Sterne.  In  one 
of  his  best  novels,  Peregrine  Pickle,  considered  by  his 
biographers  to  be,  for  a  great  part,  autobiography,  his 
hero  makes  a  trip  through  the  Netherlands.  As  Pere- 
grine Pickle  was  published  in  1751,  and  Smollett  was 
travelling  in  France  during  the  year  before,  it  is  very 
probable  that  he  came  back  from  France  through  Bel- 
gium and  Holland.  In  that  case,  he  stayed  in  Holland 
only  for  a  very  short  time,  and  while  writing  his  novel 
his  impressions  must  have  been  lively  and  written 
down  during,  or  immediately  after  the  trip.  And  this 
is  just  what  we  find  in  Peregrine  Pickle's  trip  through 
Holland.  He  comes  from  France,  travels  through 
Belgium,  and  in  Chapters  64  and  65  he  describes  how 
he  arrived  at  Rotterdam,  went  from  that  place  to  the 
Hague,  Amsterdam  and  Leyden  and  returned  to  Rot- 
terdam, whence  he  went  back  to  England.  This 
description  is  remarkable  in  more  than  one  respect ; 
remarkable  for  what  he  sees  in  Holland,  and  still  more 
remarkable  for  what  he  passes  by  without  ever 
noticing;  remarkable  for  the  kind  of  people  that  he 
comes  in  contact  with,  and  the  places  of  entertainment 
he  chooses  during  his  short  visit.  To  begin  with,  in 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  357 

Rotterdam  he  puts  up,  not  in  a  real  Dutch  hotel  but 
"in  an  English  house  of  entertainment,"  the  company 
which  he  is  introduced  to  consists  in  the  main  of  Eng- 
lishmen "to  the  number  of  twenty  or  thirty,  English- 
men of  all  ranks  and  degrees,  from  the  merchant  to 
the  perriwigmakers  prentice."  From  Rotterdam  he 
goes  to  the  Hague  "in  the  Treckskuyt"  The  very 
evening  of  the  day  of  his  arrival,  if  we  believe  him, 
he  went  to  the  reception  of  the  Prince  and  Princess 
"without  any  introduction."  Next  day  he  saw  the 
Foundery,  the  Stadhouse,  the  Spinhuys,  Vauxhall  and 
Count  Bentinck's  gardens,  but  tells  nothing  about  all 
these  except  the  names,  and  the  fact  that  he  saw 
them.  On  the  contrary,  when  in  the  evening  he  goes 
to  what  he  calls  "the  French  comedy,"  he  tells  us 
about  some  dirty  and  silly  pieces,  which  were  repre- 
sented, and  which  show  the  character  of  the  place 
he  went  to,  and  his  refined  taste  in  telling  all  about 
it  in  shameless  realistic  style.  From  the  Hague  to 
Amsterdam  he  goes  in  a  post-waggon,  with  an  intro- 
duction to  an  English  merchant.  The  theatre  and  the 
night-houses  are  the  things  he  goes  there  to  see. 
About  the  latter  he  tells  us  that  they  were  called 
"Spuyl,  or  music-houses,  which,  by  the  connivance  of 
the  magistrates,  are  maintained  for  the  recreation  of 
those  who  might  attempt  the  chastity  of  creditable 
women  if  they  were  not  provided  with  such  conveni- 
ences. To  one  of  those  night-houses  did  our  traveller 
repair  under  the  conduct  of  the  English  merchant." 
There  he  "made  up  to  a  sprightly  French  girl  who  sat 
in  seeming  expectation  of  a  customer,"  and  danced 
with  her  to  the  music  of  "a  scurvy  organ"  until  a 
sailor  came  in  to  put  up  a  fight  with  him  about  the 
girl,  hardly  escaping  the  chance  of  being  killed.  From 
Amsterdam  to  Haerlem  he  goes  again  with  the 


358  HOLLAND'S   DECLINE 

"skuyt."     At  Haerlem  he  only  takes  dinner  and  then 
departs  for  Leyden,  "where  they  met  with  some  Eng- 
lish students  who  treated  them  with  great  hospitality." 
All  he  tells  about  that  hospitality  is  that  his  friend 
had   a   heav/  dispute.     "After  they  had   visited   the 
Physic  Garden,  the  University,  the  Anatomic  Hall  and 
every   other    thing   that   was   recommended   to  .their 
view,  they  returned  to  Rotterdam  and  held  a  consulta- 
tion upon  the  method  of  transporting  themselves  to 
England."    As  far  as  Leyden  is  concerned,  he  speaks 
not  another  word  about  anything  exqept  the  dispute 
in  the  circle  of  his  own  friends.     When  I  read  these 
experiences  on  a  trip  through  Holland  of  Peregrine 
Pickle,  alias  Tobias  Smollett,  it  reminds  me  of  a  little 
joke  I  had  one  time  with  one  of  my  English  friends 
in  the  Primrose  Club  at  London.     Sitting  around  a 
comfortable  English  fireplace,  and  talking  about  Hol- 
land, one  of  my  younger  friends,  trying  to  tease  me, 
said  to  me,  "Do  you  really  wear  wooden  shoes  when 
you  live  in  Holland?''     I  said,  "Why,  don't  you  know 
what  the  Dutch  people  make  those  wooden  shoes  for  ?" 
He  said,  "No,  I  don't."     "Well,"  I  said  to  him,  "they 
make  those  wooden  shoes  for  all  the  young  English- 
men of  good  standing  who  visit  Holland,  and  do  noth- 
ing there  but  just  walk  in  the  mud."     Smollett  cer- 
tainly was  one  of  them,  according  to  his  own  narra- 
tive.    Last  summer,  being  in  Brussels  for  a  few  days, 
just  before  the  war   started,   I   observed  unwillingly 
a  couple  of  the  same  kind  of  young  English  gentle- 
men.    I  had  been  looking  through  picture  galleries, 
and  through  a  large  bookstore  of  antique  and  modern 
books  for  a  whole  day.    A  young,  clever  and  well-edu- 
cated antiquarian  had  been  kind  enough  to  accompany 
me,  and  help  me  to  buy  some  things  I  liked,  and  conse- 
quently I  invited  him  for  dinner  to  my  hotel.     After 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  '    359 

dinner  we  were  sitting  in  front  of  the  Grand  Hotel, 
smoking  our  cigars  and  drinking  our  demi-tasse.  Our 
conversation  was  in  French,  simply  because  my  friend 
spoke  neither  Dutch  nor  English.  After  a  while  two 
young  Englishmen,  well-dressed,  took  seats  just  in 
back  of  us,  and  hearing  some  of  our  French  talk,  they 
apparently  concluded  that  nobody  understood  their 
English,  and  began  to  talk  very  frankly  to  each  other 
about  their  experiences  of  the  night  before.  "If  I 
had  thought,"  said  one  of  them,  "that  you  cared  so 
much  for  that  girl,  I  might  just  as  well  have  taken 
the  other  one."  "Why,"  said  the  other  one,  "let  us 
forget  all  about  it;  this  is  a  pleasure  trip,  let  us  have 
another  drink."  Just  in  the  style  of  Smollett !  They, 
too,  needed  some  wooden  shoes.  And  yet,  this  muddy 
realistic  style  of  Smollett  has  been  able  to  start  a 
whole  school  of  realistic  novels,  and  in  our  own  time 
some  of  the  most  famous  novelists  go  much  deeper 
even  through  the  mud  than  Smollett  did.  There  must 
be  some  attractive  side,  some  idealism  in  the  very 
realistic  style,  and  there  is — there  is  a  kind  of  straight- 
ness,  a  heroism,  a  defiance  of  all  hypocrisy,  heroic 
especially  when  carried  through  with  a  brazen  face 
and  without  any  shame  whatever.  Not  to  be  a  hypo- 
crite, to  love  the  truth,  to  stand  like  a  man,  knowing 
and  willing  what  he  is  doing,  whatever  it  may  be, 
this  has  some  charming  attraction,  and  finds  always  a 
beautiful  black  background  in  the  despicable  hypocrisy 
to  be  found  to  some  degree  everywhere.  It  takes  the 
form  of  a  war  against  a  world  of  lies,  in  an  endeavor 
to  be  truthful  and  straight.  But  its  weak  side  is 
apparent.  Smollett  shows  it  in  describing  his  trip 
through  Holland.  He  sees  nothing  but  mud,  he  walks 
always  in  it,  his  eyes  are  hardly  for  a  moment  on 
anything  else.  Compared  with  a  vile  hireling  of  pub- 


300  HOLLAND'S   DECLINE 

lie  opinion  like  Dryden,  Smollett  is  a  man,  a  charac- 
ter, confessing  that  he  is  walking  in  the  mud  and 
standing  for  it  without  shame  or  repentance,  and  with 
a  stubborn  heroic  smile,  a  forerunner  of  Dickens  and 
even  of  Byron,  although  this  sublime  name  might  be 
abused  in  this  connection.  But  the  result,  at  least  in 
this  case,  for  Smollett  and  for  what  we  might  expect 
from  a  description  of  a  journey  through  the  Nether- 
lands, is  very  poor  indeed.  How  different  from  what 
Goldsmith  in  his  short  poem  gives !  How  different 
also  from  the  impressions  which  Southey  got  during 
his  visit  in  Holland ! 

Robert  Southey  (1774-1843),  well  known  as  a 
poet,  and  famous  for  his  Life  of  Nelson  and  his  Life 
of  Wesley,  spent  several  weeks  in  the  Netherlands 
during  the  year  1825,  and  he  gives  his  impressions 
from  that  trip  in  several  of  his  letters  written  from 
Holland.1  To  Henry  Taylor  he  wrote  on  March  28, 
1825 :  "I  want  to  see  Holland,  which  is  a  place  of 
man's  making,  country  as  well  as  towns.  I  want 
monastic  books,  which  it  is  hopeless  to  look  for  in 
England,  and  which  there  is  every  probability  of  find- 
ing at  Brussels,  Antwerp,  or  Leyden.  In  the  course 
of  three  or  four  weeks,  going  sometimes  by 
trekschuits  and  sometimes  upon  wheels,  we  might  see 
the  principal  places  of  the  Dutch  Netherlands,  visit 
the  spot  where  Sir  Philip  Sidney  fell,  talk  of  the 
Dousas  and  Scaliger  at  Leyden,  and  obtain  such  a 
general  notion  of  the  land  as  would  enable  us  better 
to  understand  the  history  of  the  Low  Country  wars." 

On  May  2,  1825,  he  wrote  to  the  same  man :  "You 
do  not  expect  enough  from  Holland.  It  is  a  mar- 
vellous country  in  itself,  in  its  history,  and  in  the 

1  John  Dennis,  Robert  Southey — The  story  of  his  life  written 
in  his  letters.  London  and  New  York,  1894,  p.  326,  v.  v. 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  361 

men  and  works  which  it  has  produced.  The  very 
existence  of  the  country  is  at  once  a  natural  and  a 
moral  phenomenon.  Mounteneer  as  I  am,  I  expect 
to  feel  more  in  Holland  than  in  Switzerland.  Instead 
of  climbing  mountains,  we  shall  have  to  ascend 
church-towers.  The  panorama  from  that  at  Harlem 
is  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  impressive  in  the  world. 
Evening  is  the  time  for  seeing  it  to  the  most  advan: 
tage. 

"I  have  not  yet  forgotten  the  interest  which  Wat- 
son's Histories  of  Philip  II  and  III  excited  in  me 
when  a  school-boy.  They  are  books  which  I  have 
never  looked  in  since ;  but  I  have  read  largely  con- 
cerning the  Dutch  war  against  the  Spanjards,  on  both 
sides,  and  there  is  no  part  of  Europe  which  could  be 
so  interesting  to  me  as  historical  ground.  Perhaps 
my  persuits  may  have  made  me  more  alive  than  most 
men  to  associations  of  this  kind ;  but  I  would  go  far 
to  see  the  scene  of  any  event  which  has  made  my 
heart  throb  with  a  generous  emotion,  or  the  grave 
of  any  one  whom  I  desire  to  meet  in  another  state 
of  existence." 

"To  Holland,"  says  Dennis,  "Southey  went  accord- 
ingly, and  at  Leyden  he  was  laid  up  with  a  bad  foot 
and  for  three  weeks  was  hospitably  entertained  by 
the  poet  Bilderdyk  and  his  poet  wife,  who,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  translated  Roderick."^  William  Bilderdyk 
(1756-1831)  was  one  of  the  greatest  poets,  scholars, 
historians,  Holland  ever  produced ;  the  four  greatest 
men  in  Dutch  literature  are  Jacob  van  Maerland 
(1235-1295),  Joost  van  den  Vondel  (1587-1678), 
Jacob  Cats  (1577-1660),  and  Willem  Bilderdyk. 
During  the  French  Revolution,  Bilderdyk  was  ban- 
ished from  his  own  country,  and  lived  for  some  time 

l  Dennis,   Robert    Southey,    p.    328. 


862  HOLLAND'S   DECLINE 

in  England,  where  he  got  acquainted  with  Southey. 
Nowhere  could  Southey  have  found  a  man  better 
acquainted  with  Holland  and  its  history,  and  in  the 
letters  of  Southey  one  can  feel  on  almost  every  page 
the  influence  of  Bilderdyk.  The  most  popular  edi- 
tion of  Bilderdyk's  poetical  works  is  that  in  fifteen 
volumes,  with  an  addition  of  three  volumes  of  verses 
written  by  Mrs.  Bilderdyk.  Besides  that,  he  wrote 
a  History  of  the  Netherlands,  published  after  his 
death,  in  thirteen  volumes. 

Being  at  Leyden  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bilderdyk, 
Southey  wrote  to  his  wife  on  June  30,  1825 :  "You 
will  now  expect  to  hear  something  of  the  establish- 
ment into  which  I  have  been  thus — unluckily  shall  I 
say,  or  luckily? — introduced.  The  house  is  a  good 
one,  in  a  cheerful  street,  with  a  row  of  trees  and  a 
canal  in  front — large,  and  with  everything  good  and 
comfortable  about  it.  The  only  child,  Lodewyk 
Willem,  is  at  home,  Mr.  Bilderdyk  being  as  little  fond 
of  schools  as  I  am.  The  boy  has  a  peculiar  and  to 
me  an  interesting  countenance.  He  is  evidently  of  a 
weak  constitution ;  his  dress  neat  but  formal,  and 
his  behaviour  towards  me  amusing  from  his  extreme 
politeness,  and  the  evident  pleasure  with  which  he 
receives  any  attempt  on  my  part  to  address  him,  or 
any  notice  that  I  take  of  him  at  table.  A  young 
vrouw  waits  at  table.  I  wish  you  could  see  her,  for 
she  is  a  much  odder  figure  than  Maria  Rosa  ("a 
Portuguese  servant,"  says  Dennis)  appeared  on  her 
first  introduction,  only  not  so  cheerful  a  one.  Her 
dress  is  black  and  white,  perfectly  neat  .and  not  more 
graceful  than  a  Beguine's.  The  cap,  which  is  very 
little,  and  has  a  small  front  not  projecting  farther 
than  the  green  shade  which  I  wear  sometimes  for  my 
eyes,  comes  down  to  the  roots  of  her  hair,  which  is 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  363 

all  combed  back  on  the  forehead ;  and  she  is  as  white 
and  wan  in  complexion  as  her  cap ;  slender  and  not 
ill-made ;  and  were  it  not  for  this  utter  paleness,  she 
would  be  rather  handsome.  Another  vrouw,  who 
appears  more  rarely,  is  not  in  such  plain  dress,  but 
is  quite  as  odd  in  her  way.  Nothing  can  be  more 
amusing  than  Mr.  Bilderdyk's  conversation.  Dr.  Bell 
is  not  more  full  of  life,  spirits  and  enthusiasm ;  I  am 
reminded  of  him  every  minute.  He  seems  delighted 
to  have  a  guest  who  can  understand,  and  will  listen 
to  him;  and  he  is  not  a  little  pleased  at  discerning 
how  many  points  of  resemblance  there  are  between 
us.  For  he  is  as  laborious  as  I  have  been ;  has  written 
upon  as  many  subjects;  is  just  as  much  abused  by 
the  Liberals  in  his  country  as  I  am  in  mine,  and  does 
contempt  them  as  heartily  and  as  merrily  as  I  do.  I 
am  growing  intimate  with  Mrs.  Bilderdyk,  about 
whom  her  husband,-  in  the  overflowing  of  his  spirits, 
tells  me  everything.  He  is  very  fond  of  her,  and  very 
proud  of  her,  as  well  he  may  be,  and  on  her  part  she 
is  as  proud  of  him." 

Again  Southey  writes  to  his  wife  from  Leyden, 
July  7,  1825:  "This  is  our  manner  of  life:  At  eight 
in  the  morning  Lodewyck  knocks  at  my  door.  My 
movements  in  dressing  are  as  regular  as  clock  work, 
and  when  I  enter  the  adjoining  room  breakfast  is 
ready  on  a  sofa-table,  which  is  placed  for  my  con- 
venience close  to  the  sofa.  There  I  take  my  place, 
seated  on  one  cushion,  and  with  my  leg  raised  on 
another.  The  sofa  is  covered  with  black  plush.  The 
family  take  coffee,  but  I  have  a  jug  of  boiled  milk. 
Two  sorts  of  cheese  are  on  the  table,  one  of  which  is 
very  strong,  and  highly  flavored  with  cummin  and 
cloves;  this  is  called  Leyden  cheese,  and  is  eaten  at 
breakfast  laid  in  thin  slices  on  bread  and  butter.  The 


,'J64  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

bread  is  soft,  in  rolls,  which  have  rather  skin  than 
crust;  the  butter  very  rich,  but  so  soft  that  it  is 
brought  in  a  pot  to  table,  like  potted  meat.  Before 
we  begin  Mr.  B.  takes  off  a  little  gray  cap,  and  a 
silent  grace  is  said,  not  longer  than  it  ought  to  be ; 
when  it  is  over,  he  generally  takes  his  wife's  hand. 
They  sit  side  by  side  opposite  me;  Lodewyck  at  the 
end  of  the  table.  About  ten  o'clock  Mr.  Dousa  comes 
and  dresses  my  foot,  which  is  swathed  in  one  of  my 
silk  handkerchiefs.  I  bind  a  second  round  the  bottom 
of  the  pantalon,  and  if  the  weather  be  cold,  I  put  on 
a  third;  so  that  the  leg  has  not  merely  a  decent  but 
rather  a  splendid  appearance.  After  breakfast  and 
tea,  Mrs.  B.  washes  up  the  china  herself  at  the  table. 
Part  of  the  morning  Mr.  B.  sits  with  me.  During 
the  rest  I  read  Dutch,  or,  as  at  present,  retire  into 
my  bedroom  and  write.  Henry  Taylor  calls  in  the 
morning,  and  is  always  pressed  to  dine,  which  he  does 
twice  or  thrice  in  the  week.  We  dine  at  half  past 
two  or  three,  and  the  dinners,  to  my  great  pleasure, 
are  altogether  Dutch.  You  know  I  am  a  valiant  eater, 
and  having  retained  my  appetite  as  well  as  my  spirits 
during  this  confinement,  I  eat  everything  which  is  put 
before  me.  The  dinner  lasts  very  long — strawberries 
and  cherries  always  follow.  After  coffee,  they  leave 
me  to  an  hour's  nap.  Tea  follows.  Supper  at  half 
past  nine,  when  Mr.  B.  takes  milk,  and  I  a  little  cold 
meat  with  pickles,  or  the  gravy  of  the  meat  preserved 
in  a  form  like  jelly,  and  at  half  past  ten  I  go  to  bed. 
My  host's  conversation  is  amusing  beyond  anything 
I  ever  heard.  I  cannot  hope  to  describe  it  so  as  to 
make  you  conceive  it.  The  matter  is  always  so  inter- 
esting, that  it  would  alone  suffice  to  keep  one's  atten- 
tion on  the  alert;  his  manner  is  beyond  expression 
animated,  and  his  language  the  most  extraordinary 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  365 

that  can  be  imagined.  Even  my  French  cannot  be 
half  so  odd.  It  is  English  pronounced  like  Dutch 
and  with  such  a  mixture  of  other  languages,  that  it 
is  an  even  chance  whether  the  next  word  that  comes 
be  French,  Latin  or  Dutch,  or  one  of  either  tongues 
shaped  into  an  English  form.  Sometimes  the  oddest 
imaginable  expressions  occur.  Wheri  he  would  say : 
"I  was  pleased,"  he  says :  "I  was  very  pleasant ;"  and 
instead  of  saying  that  a  poor  woman  was  wounded, 
with  whom  he  was  overturned  in  a  stage-coach  in 
England,  he  said  she  was  severely  blessed.  Withal, 
whatever  he  says  is  so  full  of  information,  vivacity, 
and  character,  and  there  is  such  a  thorough  good 
nature,  kindness  and  frankness  about  him,  that  I  never 
felt  myself  more  interested  in  any  man's  company. 
The  profits  of  literature  here  are  miserably  small.  In 
that  respect  I  am  in  relation  to  them  what  Sir  Walter 
Scott  is  in  relation  to  me.  I  can  never  sufficiently 
show  my  sense  of  the  kindness  which  I  am  experi- 
encing here.  Think  what  a  difference  it  is  to  be  con- 
fined in  a  hotel,  with  all  the  discomforts,  or  to  be  in 
such  a  family  as  this,  who  show  by  every  word  and 
every  action  that  they  are  truly  pleased  in  having  me 
under  their  roof." 

On  the  1 6th  of  July,  Southey  wrote  from  Amster- 
dam a  letter  to  his  daughter,  Miss  Katherine  Southey, 
at  his  home  at  Keswick,  in  which  he  says : 

"Thursday  I  settled  my  business  as  to  booksellers — 
Oh,  joy!  when  that  chest  of  glorious  folios  shall  arrive 
at  Keswick — the  pleasure  of  unpacking,  of  arranging 
them  on  the  new  shelves  that  must  be  provided,  and 
the  whole  year's  repast  after  supper  which  they  will 
afford !" 

"Yesterday  our  kind  friends  (Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bil- 
derdyk)  accompanied  us  a  little  way  in  the  trekschuit 


366  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

on  our  departure,  and  we  parted  with  much  regret  on 
both  sides.  If  Mr.  Bilderdyk  can  muster  spirits  for 
the  undertaking,  they  will  come  and  pass  a  summer 
with  me, — which  of  all  things  in  the  world  would  give 
me  most  pleasure,  for  never  did  I  meet  with  more 
true  kindness  than  they  have  shown  me,  or  with  two 
persons  who  have  in  so  many  essential  respects  so 
entirely  pleased  me.  Lodewyk,  too,  is  a  very  engag- 
ing boy,  and  attached  himself  greatly  to  me;  he  is 
the  only  survivor  of  eight  children,  whom  Mr.  Bilder- 
dyk has  had  by  his  present  wife,  and  of  seven  by  the 
first !  I  can  truly  say  that,  unpleasant  as  the  circum- 
stance was  which  brought  me  under  their  roof,  no 
part  of  my  life  ever  seemed  to  pass  away  more  rapidly 
or  more  pleasantly." 

So  far  I  quote  from  the  letters  of  Southey. 

I  suppose  these  quotations  to  be  sufficient  to  prove 
how  much  Southey  was  under  the  influence  of  Bilder- 
dyk. And  that  meant  something,  as  everybody  who 
knows  Bilderdyk  can  easily  understand.  Bilderdyk 
was  the  greatest  Dutch  scholar,  poet  and  historian 
of  his  time,  and  Southey  was  not  the  only  man,  indeed, 
that  came  under  the  irresistible  charm  of  his  intimate 
friendship,  and  unmatched  conversation.  A  consid- 
erable circle  of  the  very  highest  class  of  students  in 
the  University  of  Leyden,  and  among  them  Groen 
van  Prinsterer,  who  was  destined  to  be  the  archivist 
of  the  House  of  Orange,  and  the  greatest  historian 
Holland  ever  had,  and  who  became  the  leader  of  the 
old  Orange-party,  which  revived  under  his  leader- 
ship, flocked  to  the  hospitable  home  of  Bilderdyk  for 
years  to  listen  to  his  private  lectures  on  Dutch  his- 
tory, and  to  enjoy  his  conversation.  Southey  uses 
strong  language  when  he  says  that  "nothing  can  be 
more  amusing  than  Bilderdyk's  conversation,"  that 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  367 

"his  conversation  is  amusing  beyond  anything  I  ever 
heard,"  and  "I  never  felt  myself  more  interested  in 
any  man's  company,"  but  we  are  not  surprised  at  it 
at  all.  Southey  was  not  the  only  one  who  spoke  that 
way  about  Bilderdyk.  Southey's  sympathy  for  the 
Dutch  poet,  Jacob  Cats  (1577-1660),  an  author  much 
beloved  by  Bilderdyk,  is  without  question  due  to  Bil- 
derdyk. On  February  18,  1825,  Southey  in  a  letter 
to  Grosvenor  Belford  says :  "Do  you  remember  my 
buying  a  Dutch  grammar  in  the  "cool  May"  of  1799, 
and  how  we  were  amused  at  Brinton  writh  the  Dutch 
grammarian  who  pities  himself  and  loved  his  good 
and  rich  brother  ?  That  grammar1  is  in  use  now ;  and 
Cuthbert  and  I  have  begun  upon  Jacob  Cats ;  who 
in  spite  of  his  name,  and  of  the  ill-looking  and  not- 
much-better-sounding  language  in  which  he  wrote,  I 
verily  believe  to  have  been  the  most  useful  poet  that 
any  country  ever  produced.  In  Bilderdyk's  youth, 
Jacob  Cats  was  to  be  found  in  every  respectable  house 
throughout  Holland,  lying  beside  the  hall  Bible.  One 
•of  his  longer  poems,  which  describes  the  course  of 
female  life,  and  female  duties,  from  childhood  to  the 
grave,  was  in  such  estimation,  that  an  ornamented 
edition  of  it  was  printed  solely  for  bridal  presents. 
He  is,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  a  domestic  poet ; 
intelligible  to  the  humblest  of  his  readers,  while  the 
dexterity  and  felicity  of  his  diction  make  him  the 
admiration  of  those  who  are  but  able  to  appreciate  the 
merits  of  his  style.  And  for  useful  practical  morals, 
maxims  for  every-day  life,  lessons  that  find  their  way 
through  the  understanding  to  the  heart,  and  fix  them- 
selves there,  I  know  of  no  poet  who  can  be  compared 
•to  him.  Mi  Cats  inter  omnes.  Cedite  Romani  Scrip- 
tores,  cedite  Graii !" 

1  As  early  as  the  year  1700  there  were  written  Dutch  grammars 
in  English,  for  instance  one  by  Sewel,  a  copy  of  which  is  in  my 
library. 


368  HOLLAND'S   DECLINE 

To  these  words  of  Southey  we  may  add  that  Jacob 
Cats  was  not  at  all  unknown  in  England ;  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds,  the  famous  English  painter,  in  his  early 
youth  was  delighted  in  looking  at  the  beautiful  en- 
gravings in  the  works  of  "Father  Cats"  which  may 
have  been  the  first  inspiration  for  the  great  artist  to 
devote  his  life  to  painting. 

But  there  was  still  another  Englishman  of  good 
literary  ability,  who  came  largely  under  the  influence 
of  Holland,  who  lived  at  Leyden  with  Southey  and 
even  came  in  close  contact  with  Bilderdyk.  It  was 
Sir  Henry  Taylor  (1800-1886),  the  author  of  "Philip 
van  Artevelde,"  for  many  years  an  officer  of  the  Eng- 
lish government  in  the  Colonial  Department,  a  friend 
of  Wordsworth  and  Southey,  to  whose  circle  in  litera- 
ture he  belongs.  In  1823  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Southey,  which  soon  afterwards  ripened  into  a 
warm  friendship,  and  in  the  year  1825  we  find  the 
two  friends  together  in  the  Netherlands,  more  espe- 
cially at  Leyden  and  at  the  home  of  Willem  Bilder- 
dyk. Southey,  in  his  letter  of  July  7,  1825,  written 
at  Mr.  Bilderdyk's  home,  to  Mrs.  Southey,  says: 
"Henry  Taylor  calls  in  the  morning,  and  is  always 
pressed  to  dine,  which  he  does  twice  or  thrice  a 
week."  During  the  next  year,  1826,  "Southey  paid 
another  short  visit  to  Holland,  accompanied  by  his 
friends,  Henry  Taylor  and  Mr.  Rickman."1 

Probably  from  Bilderdyk,  and  through  Bilderdyk 
from  Southey,  he  got  the  inspiration  for  Dutch  his- 
tory, and  more  especially  for  his  great  theme  of 
Philip  van  Artevelde,  as  Bilderdyk  was  the  greatest 
Dutch  historian  of  his.  time,  and  a  man  of  great 
attraction  in,  his  conversation,  as  we  learn  from 
Southey's  letters,  quoted  above.  Six  years,  from 

l  Dennis.      Robert    Southey,    p.    341. 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  369 

1828-1834,  Henry  Taylor  is  said  to  have  spent  in  pre- 
paring his  great  play,  in  two  parts,  of  Philip  van 
Artevelde.  Taylor  wrote  four  more  plays,  Corn- 
menus,  Edwin  the  Fair,  A  Sicilian  Summer,  and  St. 
Clement's  Eve,  but  it  is  the  two-fold  play  of  Philip 
van  Artevelde  that  gave  Taylor  a  permanent  place 
in  English  literature.  It  certainly  was  a  great  theme, 
that  attracted  Taylor  the  more  because  he  saw  in  the 
life  of  his  hero  the  ideas  and  feelings,  and  last,  not 
least,  the  intimate  experiences  of  his  own  life.  The 
names  of  Jacob  van  Artevelde,  who  was  murdered 
in  1345,  and  that  of  his  son  Philip,  who  was  killed 
in  battle  in  1382,  stand  for  a  whole  epoch  in  the  his- 
tory and  development  of  Democracy,  and  are  for  their 
own  time  the  representatives  of  the  same  great  move- 
ment in  history,  at  the  head  of  which  we  find  a 
William  the  Silent  in  the  Netherlands,  a  Johannes 
Althusius  at  Embden  in  East-Triesland,  a  Wycliff  and 
a  Cromwell  in  England,  a  George  Washington  and 
Abraham  Lincoln  in  America.  A  great  movement,  in 
its  character  social  as  well  as  religious  and  political, 
a  gigantic  struggle  of  the  masses  of  the  people  against 
feudalism  and  aristocracy,  in  church,  in  state,  and  in 
society ;  a  movement  for  equality  of  opportunity,  be- 
ginning with  the  crusades,  in  which  many  of  the 
nobles  were  killed,  and  the  free  men  of  the  villages 
(villanei,  or  villains)  got  an  opportunity  to  leave  their 
poor  homes  around  the  castles  of  the  nobles,  to  find 
refuge  in  the  rapidly  rising  cities ;  growing  more  and 
more  strong  in  the  cities,  and  the  leagues  of  the  cities 
in  Flanders  and  in  the  Hansa;  developing  still  more 
under  the  inspiring  religious  revival  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, when  the  Northern  Netherlands  got  the  leader- 
ship; leading  the  way  in  England  to  the  Common- 
wealth of  Cromwell,  until  at  last  it  found  its  final 


370  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

triumph  in  the  great  American  Democracy  of  Wash- 
ington and  Lincoln.  This  great  movement  of  Democ- 
racy had  its  headquarters  during  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury in  the  cities  of  Flanders,  Ghent,  Bruges,  Ypres 
and  in  other  cities  of  the  Southern  Netherlands,  and 
it  is  during  that  period  that  we  find  the  names  of  the 
Van  Arteveldes  written  in  large  characters  on  the 
pages  of  the  World's  History.  It  was  in  the  first 
part  of  the  hundred  years'  war  between  England  and 
France  (1337-1454).  Both  the  king  of  France  and 
the  king  of  England  tried  to  get  the  powerful  alliance 
of  Flanders.  The  count  of  Flanders  was  the  vassal 
of  the  king  of  France,  and  chose  in  the  main  the  side 
of  that  country,  but  the  cities  of  Flanders,  suffering 
under  the  feudal  tyranny  of  the  count  and  his  nobles, 
found  in  Edward  III  (1327-1377),  king  of  England, 
their  ally,  for  the  double  reason  that  they  got  the  wool 
for  their  looms  from  England,  in  which  country  they 
found  a  great  market  for  their  trade,  and  that  they 
were  fighting  for  their  liberties  against  the  Count  and 
his  suzerain,  the  king  of  France.  It  was  the  organ- 
izing power  of  Jacob  van  Artevelde,  who  first  united 
the  guilds  of  his  city  Ghent,  then  brought  about  a 
union  of  the  cities  of  Flanders,  and  finally  made  that 
famous  alliance  in  the  name  of  nearly  all  Flanders 
with  Edward  the  Third  in  the  year  1339,  an  alliance 
which  soon  afterwards  was  joined  by  the  Count  of 
Holland.  It  was  the  first  great  accomplishment  of 
Democracy  in  modern  times.  Battles  were  fought, 
victories  gained,  and  Artevelde  himself  after  a  few 
years  was  murdered  in  1345  but  his  great  work  is 
a  milestone  in  the  history  of  Democracy  forever. 

Forty  years  later,  his  son,  Philip  van  Artevelde, 
appears  in  the  midst  of  the  continuous  struggle  on  the 
stage  of  the  world's  history.  Born  about  the  year 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  371 

1340,  Philip  was  only  a  boy  of  five  years  when  his 
father  was  murdered,  and  although  little  is  known 
about  it,  it  seems  that  the  intimate  friendship  of  King 
Edward  III  gave  a  safe  refuge  to  the  rest  of  the  fam- 
ily in  England  for  some  time.  Probably  in  England 
Philip  came  under  the  influence  of  the  Lollards,  as 
the  followers  of  John  Wicliff  were  called,  at  least  he 
is  said  to  have  lived  for  a  long  time  the  ascetic  life  of 
the  Lollards;1  until  the  time  came  in  1380  that  the 
Democracy  in  Flanders,  in  a  time  of  utmost  distress, 
looked  for  another  energetic  leader  in  its  struggle 
against  the  Count  and  his  nobility.  With  Philip  van 
Artevelde  as  their  leader,  the  city  of  Ghent  rose  to 
arms,  and  in  a  few  days  stormed  the  residence  of  the 
Count,  the  city  of  Bruges,  at  the  same  time  the  centre 
of  the  nobles.  The  Count  Louis  de  Male  hardly 
escaped  with  his  life,  and  a  great  number  of  the  nobles 
and  aristocrats  were  slain  in  a  furious  battle.  The 
Count  fled  to  France  to  ask  for  help  from  the  King 
of  that  country,  and  Artevelde,  in  the  footsteps  of 
his  father,  tried  to  make  an  alliance  with  England. 
This  catastrophe  in  Flanders  was  felt  through  all 
western  Europe,  and  at  the  same  time  we  find  the 
uprisings  of  democracy  in  the  "Jacquerie."  at  Paris, 
at  Amiens,  at  Rouen  and  other  places  in  France,  as 
well  as  the  Wat  Tyler  insurrection  in  England.2  But 
while  the  French  King  came  to  the  rescue  of  his 
Count,  the  English  King  stayed  behind,  and  in  1382 
Van  Artevelde  and  his  citizens  were  .defeated  in  the 
terrible  battle  of  Roozebeke,  in  which  26,000  Flamings 
were  killed,  and  the  corpse  of  Van  Artevelde  remained 
upon  the  battlefield. 

1  H.    Firenne,   Histoire    de    Belguique,   II,   p.    208. 

2  "L,es  Gantois  fomenterent  les  insurrections  frangaises  de  Ferrier- 
Mars    1382"    and    "ceux    de    Gant    etaient    alles    de    ceux    de    Rouen." 
Pirenne,    p.    211. 


372  HOLLAND'S  DECLINE 

This  is  the  short,  heroic  and  tragic  story  of  the 
leadership  of  Philip  van  Artevelde,  which  inspired 
Henry  Taylor,  and  which  he  worked  out  in  detail, 
interwoven  with  a  characteristic  love  story,  in  his 
tragedy  in  two  parts  called  Philip  van  Artevelde. 

Writing  about  this  two-fold  play,  Aubrey  de  Vere 
says: 

"Mr.  Taylor's  poetry  is  pre-eminently  that  of 
action,  as  Lord  Byron's  is  that  of  passion;  or  rather, 
it  includes  action  as  well  as  passion,  thus  correspond- 
ing with  Milton's  definition  of  tragic  poetry  as  "high 
actions  and  high  passions  best  describing."  It  is  this 
peculiarity  which  has  made  him  succeed  in  drama 
which  most  of  our  modern  poets  have  attempted,  but 
almost  all  unsuccessfully."1  In  his  autobiography, 
Taylor  tells  us:  "Miss  Bremer,  the  Swedish  novelist, 
told  me  that  it  (viz.,  the  Philip  van  Artevelde}  had 
been  translated  into  Swedish  and  brought  on  the  stage 
with  great  success  at  Stockholm."2 

Philip  van  Artevelde  was  the  most  successful  thing 
in  Taylors  life. 

"The  sale  was  rapid  and  as  the  edition  had  num- 
bered only  500  copies,  another  had  to  be  put  in  prep- 
aration without  delay.  Lansdowne  House  and  Hol- 
land House,  then  the  great  receiving  houses  of  Lon- 
don society,  opened  their  gates  wide.  In  that  society 
I  found  that  I  was  going  by  the  name  of  my  hero ; 
and  one  lady,  more  fashionable  than  well-informed, 
sent  me  an  invitation  addressed  to  "Philip  van  Arte- 
velde, Esq."3 

Concerning  the  way  in  which  Taylor  received  his 
first  suggestion  to  choose  this  subject,  he  tells  us:   "In- 
the  spring  of  1828,  I  was  meditating  another  drama; 

1  Aubrey    de    Vere,    Essays   chiefly   on   poetry,    p.    267. 

2  Henry  Taylor,  Autobiography,   Vol.    II,   p.   32. 

3  Autobiography,  I,  p.   196. 


HOLLAND'S  DECLINE  373 

and  Southey,  after  dissuading  me  from  founding  one 
upon  the  story  of  Patkul,  suggested  that  of  Philip 
van  Artevelde,  which  I  at  once  adopted."1  And 
Southey  undoubtedly  got  his  inspiration  on  this  sub- 
ject from  Bilderdyk,  who  was  most  enthusiastic  about 
the  earlier  history  of  the  Netherlands. 


1  Autobiography,  I,  p.  109. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 

HOLLAND'S  GLORY  OF  THE  PAST  REMAINS  INSPIRING. 
MOTLEY,  MACAULAY,  WALTER  SCOTT,  WASH- 
INGTON IRVING,  AND  PAULDING,  EONGFELLOW, 
CHARLES  READE  AND  ROBERT  Louis  STEVENSON. 
ENGLISH  TRANSLATIONS  OF  DUTCH  WORKS. 
INSPIRATION  FROM  DUTCH  ART.  WALTER  CRANS- 
TON LARNET'S  NOVEL — REMBRANDT. 

After  a  period  of  decline  like  that  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  the  downfall  of  the  Dutch  Republic 
during  the  French  Revolution  followed  rapidly. 
When  the  whirlwind  of  revolutionary  enthusiasm 
swept  over  the  nations  of  Western  Europe,  it  could 
not  be  expected  that  a  nation  whose  strength  was 
neither  in  the  vastness  of  its  area,  nor  in  the  many 
millions  of  its  inhabitants,  should  remain  intact.  And 
when  that  terrible  storm  had  passed  by,  and  the  battle 
of  Waterloo  was  fought,  Holland  reappeared  among 
independent  nations,  but  to  start  a  new  history ;  a  his- 
tory entirely  different  from  that  of  the  great  Dutch 
Republic ;  a  history  more  in  accordance  with  the 
natural  limits  of  the  country  and  the  number  of  its 
inhabitants.  Nevertheless,  by  its  central  location 
between  England,  France  and  Germany,  Holland, 
although  one  of  the  minor  states,  will  always  remain 
a  remarkable  spot  on  the  globe,  and  as  long  as  the 
balance  of  the  great  powers  leaves  to  her  the  posses- 
sions of  her  vast  colonies,  it  will  count  as  one  of  the 
commercial  nations  of  greater  importance.  Holland 

374 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF   THE  PAST          375 

came  into  the  position  in  which  Greece  has  been  for 
centuries,  and  into  which  Italy  at  last  has  come,  and 
a  comparison  with  Greece  and  Italy  illustrates  the 
present  situation  of  Holland.  When  a  traveler  visits 
Greece,  he  may  enjoy  the  life  and  the  pleasures  of  the 
present  Greek  people,  but  his  main  purpose  is  to  see 
the  places  where  the  warriors  of  Homer  lived,  where 
Apelles.  and  Phidias  displayed  their  art,  where  Plato 
and  Aristoteles  were  teaching.  Whoever  goes  to 
Italy  may  admire  the  Italian  art  of  later  centuries, 
may  enjoy  the  beauty  of  the  Italian  climate,  but  before 
everything  else,  his  thoughts  are  on  ancient  Rome, 
on  the  empire  of  the  Caesars,  his  longings  are  to  see 
the  sacred  places  where  the  first  Christians  were 
persecuted  and  murdered,  in  the  Catacombs  and  in 
the  Coliseum,  to  stand  on  the  forum  Romanum,  to 
walk  through  the  palace  of  the  Palatine,  to  look  down 
from  the  Tarpeian  rock,  to  ride  along  the  via  Appia, 
to  stand  quietly  in  many  places  and  recall  all  the  great- 
ness and  glory  that  was  one  time  and  now  is  no  more. 
And  here  in  the  comparison  with  Italy  we  find  the 
hope  for  Holland's  present  condition  and  its  future. 
Italy  never  again  has  played  the  part  of  a  world- 
empire,  never  has  regained  its  glorious  days  of  ancient 
Rome,  but  Italy,  after  having  been  reduced  to  more 
natural  and  fitting  conditions,  and  after  its  great  task 
in  history  has  passed  long  ago,  has  nevertheless  devel- 
oped a  wonderful  splendor  in  art  and  in  literature, 
in  science  and  in  every  other  respect.  So,  when  any- 
body visits  Holland,  if  he  is  not  an  "innocent  abroad," 
he  will  look  first  for  Holland's  glory  of  the  past,  he 
may  see  first  the  many  places,  sacred  in  history, 
remarkable  as  any  places  on  the  face  of  the  earth; 
places  connected  with  tragedies,  more  tragic  than 
any  history  ever  saw ;  places  of  martyrdom  and 


376  HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF    THE   PAST 

heroism  for  the  liberties  now  enjoyed  in  the  most 
remote  countries,  and  we  can  only  pity  those  poor 
tourists  whose  entire  interest  consists  in  seeing  the 
wooden  shoes  of  some  poor  fisher  people,  because  they 
do  not  see  that  they  themselves  in  a  spiritual  sense 
are  just  as  poor  as  those  people  begging  at  the  side  of 
the  sea.  But  besides  all  those  glorious  remainders  of 
the  past,  in  sacred  places  and  in  art,  there  is  still  a 
modern  civilization  in  Holland,  a  national  energy, 
which  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that,  in  proportion, 
the  scholars  and  scientists  of  Holland  in  our  days  get 
more  Nobel  prizes  than  those  of  any  country  in  the 
world,  and  that  the  modern  school  of  Dutch  art,  the 
school  of  Josef  Israels  and  Maris,  Mesdag  and  Mauve 
can  stand  comparison  with  any  school  in  the  world. 

Only  in  the  field  of  language  and  literature  we 
must  not  expect  much  from  Holland,  because  there 
competition  is  on  too  unequal  terms.  Art  and  science 
speak  in  a  world-language,  but  literature  is  largely 
confined  to  a  certain  language.  The  Dutch  language 
is  spoken  only  by  comparatively  a  few,  while,  for 
instance,  English  is  the  language  of  the  English 
Empire,  and  of  the  United  States.  Consequently  a 
literary  work  written  in  Dutch  becomes  important  for 
the  world  at  large  only  in  translation,  while  in  the 
original  it  is  limited  to  that  comparatively  very  small 
part  of  the  civilized  world  where  the  Dutch  language 
is  spoken. 

But  what  will  remain  inspiring  for  the  whole 
world,  and  for  the  literary  artists  of  all  nations,  is  the 
grand  history  of  the  Dutch  republic,  with  its  deeds 
of  great  heroism  and  martyrdom,  of  stubborn  stead- 
fastness in  standing  for  freedom  and  independence, 
deeds  written  in  the  language  of  the  human  heart,  as 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF    THE  PAST  377 

well  as  in  the  books  of  the  world's  history.  Names 
like  those  of  Motley  and  Macaulay  may  prove  at  once 
how  far  this  is  true;  two  men  whose  volumes  take 
their  place  of  honor  in  the  literature  of  England  and 
America,  and  whose  inspiration  holds  immediate  con- 
tact with  the  history  of  Holland.  f  As  Southey  and 
Henry  Taylor  came  into  personal  contact  with  Bilder- 
dyk,  so  Motley  and  Macaulay,  half  a  century  later, 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  great  pupil  of  Bilder- 
dyk,  the  archivist  of  the  House  of  Orange  and  great 
historian,  G.  Groen  van  Prinsterer. 

John  Lothrop  Motley  (1814-1877),  born  at  Dor- 
chester, Massachusetts,  after  having  finished  his 
studies  at  Harvard,  and  after  having  made  a  trip 
through  Europe,  became,  in  1841,  secretary  of  the 
Ambassador  of  the  United  States  at  St.  Petersburg; 
lived  in  the  United  States  from  1842-1851  ;  from  1851 
until  1856  at  Berlin,  Dresden  and  Brussels ;  was 
Ambassador  at  Vienna  1861-1868,  and  after  1870  at 
London,  until  he  died  in  England,  in  Kingston  Russel 
House,  near  Dorchester  (Dorsetshire),  in  1877.  Mot- 
ley began  his  literary  career  in  1839  by  writing  a 
novel,  Morton's  Hope,  and  ten  years  later  he  pub- 
lished another  novel  called  Merry  Mount.  After  that 
he  gave  himself,  as  much  as  his  diplomatic  career 
allowed  him  time  for  it,  entirely  to  historical 
researches*,  and  it  was  the  history  of  the  Netherlands 
that  became  the  great  source  of  inspiration  of  his  life. 
In  1856  Motley  published  his  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Re- 
public, in  three  volumes;  after  that  he  wrote  the  His- 
tory of  the  United  Netherlands,  in  four  volumes  1860- 
1868;  and  finally  in  1874  his  Life  and  Death  of  John 
of  Barnevelt,  in  two  volumes.  The  first  of  these 
works  brought  the  name  of  Motley  at  once  into  fame 
all  over  the  world,  and  not  without  reason.  It  is 


378  HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF    THE   PAST 

splendid  in  every  respect.    The  second  work,  his  His- 
tory of  the  Netherlands,  is  not  as  trustworthy  and 
contains  many  mistakes.     His  last  work,  the  Life  and 
Death  of  Olden  Barnevelt,  is  another  masterpiece  of 
literary  merit,  but,  as  a  work  of  history,  it  is  a  com- 
plete  failure,  because  on  the  main  question  he  goes 
absolutely  wrong.     The  best  historians  of  the  most 
different  parties,  like  the  liberal  Robert  Fruin,  and  the 
conservative  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  agree  in  this  point 
against  Motley.     I  am  sorry  that,  according  to  these 
historians,  we  have  to  go  still  further.     Motley  was 
not  only  wrong,  but  he  was  so  much  prejudiced  that 
he  took  no  notice  of  the  very  best  documents  which 
were  put  at  his  disposal    from    the   archives    of   the 
House  of  Orange.     The  main  idea  of  Motley,  in  the 
great  question  between  Prince    Maurits    and    Olden 
Barnevelt,  was,  that  Prince   Maurits  was  ambitious, 
that  he  tried  to  get  the  sovereignty  instead  of  being 
Stadholder,  that  Olden  Barnevelt  refused  in  that  point 
his  assistance,  and  that  therefore    the    Prince    hated 
Olden   Barnevelt.     This  presumption,  once  accepted, 
dominated  the  whole  work  of  Motley,  and  he  could 
not  change  this  idea,  he  could  not  admit  that  he  was 
wrong,  without  changing  his  whole  work,  and  its  per- 
vading   spirit     from     start    to    finish.       Groen    van 
Prinsterer  published,  in  the  meantime,  the  secret  cor- 
respondence between  Prince  Maurits  and  his  cousin, 
Willem  Lodewyk,  Stadholder  of  Friesland,  who  stood 
side  by  side  with  the  Prince  against  Olden  Barnevelt. 
In  those  letters,  during  the  most  critical  years  of  the 
conflict,  Prince  Maurits  writes  his  intimate  thoughts 
and  feelings  to  a  cousin,  whom  he  perfectly  trusts,  and 
who  stands  with  him.     Those  secret  letters  have  to 
decide  the  question  of  Maurits'  intentions,  and  they 
do.     But  they  decided    against    Motley,    and    Motley 
knew  it  before  his  book  was  published,  but  he  refused 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF   THE   PAST  379 

to  change  the  whole  work,  and  stuck  to  his  story. 
How  to  explain  prejudices  like  these?  How  Motley 
got  the  prejudices  can  easily  be  explained,  but  why 
he  stuck  to  them  nobody  can  explain  without  touch- 
ing the  character  of  Motley  as  an  honest  and  sincere 
historian.  Motley  was  a  Unitarian,  and  had  a  strong 
feeling  of  antipathy  against  the  Calvinistic  party,  of 
which  Prince  Maurits  was  the  head.  Motley,  when 
he  lived  at  the  Hague  for  some  time  in  a  house  on  the 
Kneuterdyk,  was  a  great  friend  of  Queen  Sophia,  at 
that  time  living  separately  from  her  royal  husband, 
King  William  III,  whom  she  hated  and  despised.  A 
life-size  portrait  of  Motley  is  still  hanging  in  the 
Palace  in  the  woods  near  the  Hague,  where  Queen 
Sophia  lived.  No  princess  ever  did  so  much  harm 
to  the  House  of  Orange  as  she  did.  She  was  better 
suited  to  be  the  editor  of  a  magazine  or  the  teacher 
of  a  high  school  than  to  be  the  wife  of  a  king  like 
William  III.  This  wrong  conception  of  her  life's 
task  was  so  terrible  in  its  consequences  that  really  the 
whole  royal  family  was  destroyed,  and  not  before  the 
queen  died,  and  another  and  better  Princess,  viz., 
Queen  Emma,  came  in  her  place,  was  the  sensitive 
character  of  William  III,  by  her  soft  and  wise  hand, 
led  in  the  right  way.  That  Motley,  starting  with  a 
prejudiced  mind,  and  favored  with  the  friendship  of 
a  queen,  who  hated  the  House  of  Orange,  and  whose 
literary  abilities  were  acknowledged,  but  who  neg- 
lected the  great  task  of  her  life,  hardly  could  change 
his  mind,  is  easily  understood.  And  yet  that  he, 
knowing  better,  as  an  honest  man,  preserved  and  gave 
his  book  to  the  world  as  he  did,  looks  psychologically 
like  the  fall  of  an  angel."  After  the  publishing  of 
Motley's  book,  Groen  van  Prinsterer  told  Motley  per- 
sonally that  he  was  obliged  to  write  against  him,  and 


380  HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF   THE   PAST 

he  published  his  "Maurice  et  Barncvclt,"  a  book  of 
about  600  pages,  written  in  French  in  order  that  the 
whole  world  should  be  able  to  read  it.  In  the  family 
archives  of  Mr.  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  now  in  the 
State-Archives  at  the  Hague,  are  only  six  letters  of 
Motley  written  to  Groen,  and  only  three  copies  of  let- 
ters written  by  Groen  to  Motley.  I  take  here,  finally, 
the  opportunity  of  publishing  two  letters  of  Motley, 
which  came  into  my  possession  by  purchase  at  the 
Antiquariat  of  Van  Stockum  at  the  Hague.  They 
may  be  valuable  for  the  biographer  of  Motley,  and 
once  printed  they  cannot  be  lost  any  more  to  historical 
research. 

The  paper  of  the  first  letter  is  stamped — 31  Hert- 
ford street,  May  Fair,  and  dated  "13  July,  '60." 

Dear  Sir: — Since  sending  my  letter  of  yes- 
terday, I  have  cut  the  leaves  of  the  last  portion 
of  the  Olden  Barneveld  papers  received.  I  find 
that  the  instructions  to  Leicester  sent  by  me  to 
Mr.  van  Deventer,  have  already  been  printed  by 
you.  It  is  unnecessary  therefore  to  trouble  that 
gentleman  or  yourself  with  any  more  questions. 

I   remain 

Yours  truly, 

J.  L.  MOTLEY. 

P.  S. — Pray  do  not  forget  the  missing  pages, 
128-145. 

The  other  letter  is  written  at  the  Hague  to  Pro- 
fessor P.  G.  Frederiks: 

6  neuterdyk,  The  Hague,  8  April,  '72. 

Dear  Sir: — Pray  accept  my  best  thanks  for 
your  kind  letter  of  4th  inst.,  together  with  the 
"Feestnummer"  of  the  "Zutphensche  Courant," 
which  I  have  read  with  much  interest.  I  have 
a  very  agreeable  remembrance  of  my  visit  to 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF   THE   PAST  381 

Zutphen  fourteen  years  ago  and  of  the  interest- 
ing and  instructive  conversation  of  the  gentle- 
man, Mr.  Tadema,  who  was  so  good  as  to  show 
me  all  that  was  interesting  there.1  I  read  with 
interest  what  you  tell  me  of  the  papers  in  the 
Wynhuistoren.  I  thank  you  sincerely  for  your 
friendly  intentions  in  my  behalf  as  well  as  for 
the  indulgent  manner  in  which  you  are  pleased 
to  speak  of  my  labors  to  illustrate  the  history 
of  your  noble  country  and  of  the  honor  recently 
done  me  by  the  time-honored  University  of 
Ley  den. 

I  am,  dear  sir, 

Very  respectfully  and  truly  yours, 

J.  L.  MOTLEY. 
Professor 
P.   G.   Frederiks. 

Macaulay,  as  well  as  Motley,  was  personally 
acquainted  with  the  Dutch  historian,  Groen  van 
Prinsterer,  and  without  any  painful  difference  of  opin- 
ion such  as  overshadowed  the  friendship  of  Groen  and 
Motley. 

Lord  Thomas  Babington  Macaulay  (1800-1859), 
born  at  Rothley  Temple,  Leicestershire ;  died  at  Holly 
Lodge,  Campden  Hill,  and  was  given  a  resting  place 
in  the  Poet's  Corner  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Among 
the  tombs  of  Johnson  and  Garrick,  Handel  and 
Goldsmith,  and  at  the  feet  of  the  statue  of  Addison, 
lies  the  tombstone  of  the  man  who  spent  the  best  part 
of  his  life  in  writing  the  story  of  William  III,  Prince 
of  Orange  and  King  of  England,  in  a  monumental 
work  that  bears  the  name  of  History  of  England. 
Four  of  the  five  volumes  are  devoted  to  the  time  of 
William  and  Mary,  and  the  great  hero  of  the  work, 
the  hero  of  Macaulay's  life  was  the  illustrious  Prince 
of  Orange.  Several  times  Macaulay  travelled  on  the 

1  Motley  alludes  here  of  course  to  the  place  where  Philip  Sidney 
lost  his  life. 


382          HOLLAND'S  GLORY   OF   THE  PAST 

European  Continent,  and  at  least  in  1844  ne  made 
a  journey  through  Holland,  but  I  have  not  been  able 
to  find  out  how  far  he  visited  the  Netherlands  during 
his  later  trips.  That  he  was  well  acquainted  with 
Groen  van  Prinsterer  is  apparent  from  the  thirty-one 
letters  of  Macaulay,  which  are  in  the  family-archives 
of  Groen,  now  in  the  State-Archives  at  the  Hague, 
and  that  he  knew  the  Dutch  language  may  be  proved 
by  the  following  letter,  the  original  of  which  is  in  my 
possession. 

London,  August  14,  1855. 
Sir  — I  beg  you  to  accept  my  thanks  for  the 
volumes  which  you  have  had  the  kindness  to 
send  me.  The  history  of  your  province  is  pecu- 
liarly interesting  to  an  Englishman.  For  you 
and  we  are,  as  the  resemblance  of  our  language 
proves,  very  near  akin.  I  promise  myself  great 
pleasure  and  profit  from  the  perusal  of  your 
work.  But  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  it  will  be  a 
matter  of  time  for,  though  I  read  Dutch,  I  read 
it  with  difficulty,  and  I  find  the  style  of  your 
modern  writers  very  different  from  that  of  your 
diplomatists  of  the  seventeenth  century,  with 
whose  dispatches  I  am  better  acquainted  than 
with  any  other  part  of  your  literature. 

With  repeated  thanks   for  the  honor  which 
you  have  done  me,  I  beg  you  to  believe  me, 
Sir, 

Your  most  faithful  servant, 

T.  B.  MACAULAY. 

An  admiration  for  the  great  hero  of  his  history 
Macaulay  seems  to  have  gained  t  at  a  very  early  time 
of  his  life,  when  during  the  years  1818-1824  he  was 
a  student  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  During  the 
year  1821,  the  same  year  in  which  the  great  Dutch 
historian,  Groen  van  Prinsterer,  got  his  double  doc- 
tor's degree  in  law  and  in  philosophy  at  Leyden,  a 
certain  Mr.  Greaves  of  Fulbourn  had  provided  a 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF   THE  PAST          383 

reward  of  ten  pounds  for  the  junior  bachelor  of 
Trinity  College,  who  wrote  the  best  essay  on  "the 
conduct  and  character  of  William  the  Third." 

"It  is  more  than  probable,"  says  Trevelyan,  the 
biographer  of  Macaulay,  "that  to  this  old  Cambridge- 
shire Whig  was  due  the  first  idea  of  that  "History" 
in  whose  pages  William  of  Orange  stands  as  the  cen- 
tral figure." 

The  essay  by  which  the  student  Macaulay  won  the 
prize  is  still  in  existence,  and  it  is  interesting  how, 
at  that  time,  he  already  outlines  the  characters  of  the 
two  great  antagonists,  Louis  XIV  and  William  III. 
Mr.  Trevelyan  gives  us  two  passages.  He  thus 
describes  William's  life-long  enemy  and  rival,  whose 
name  he  already  spells  after  his  own  fashion :  "Lewis 
was  not  a  great  general.  He  was  not  a  great  legis- 
lator. But  he  was,  in  one  sense  of  the  word,  a  great 
king.  He  was  a  perfect  master  of  all  the  mysteries 
of  the  science  of  royalty — of  all  the  arts  which  at 
once  extend  power  and  conciliate  popularity — which 
most  advantageously  display  the  merits,  or  most  dex- 
terously conceal  the  deficiencies  of  a  sovereign.  He 
was  surrounded  by  great  men,  by  victorious  com- 
manders, by  sagacious  statesmen.  Yet,  while  he 
availed  himself  to  the  utmost  of  their  services,  he 
never  incurred  any  danger  from  their  rivalry.  He 
was  a  talisman  which  extorted  the  obedience  of  the 
proudest  and  mightiest  spirits.  The  haughty  and 
turbulent  warriors  whose  contests  had  agitated  France 
during  his  minority  yielded  to  the  irresistible  spell, 
and,  like  the  gigantic  slaves  of  the  ring  and  lamp  of 
Aladdin,  labored  to  decorate  and  aggrandize  a  master 
whom  they  could  have  crushed.  With  incomparable 
address  he  appropriated  to  himself  the  glory  of  cam- 
paigns which  had  been  planned  and  counsels  which 


384  HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF   THE   PAST 

had  been  suggested  by  others.  The  arms  of  Turenne 
were  the  terror  of  Europe.  The  policy  of  Colbert 
was  the  strength  of  France.  But  in  their  foreign 
successes  and  their  internal  prosperity  the  people  saw 
only  the  greatness  and  wisdom  of  Lewis." 

His  favored  hero,  William  III,  the  young 
Macaulay,  describes  as  follows:  "To  have  been  a 
sovereign,  yet  the  champion  of  liberty ;  a  revolution- 
ary leader,  yet  the  supporter  of  social  order,  is  the 
peculiar  glory  of  William.  He  knew  where  to  pause. 
He  outraged  no  national  prejudice.  He  abolished  no 
ancient  form.  He  altered  no  venerable  name.  He 
saw  that  the  existing  institutions  possessed  the  great- 
est capabilities  of  excellence,  and  that  stronger 
sanctions  and  clearer  definitions  were  alone  required 
to  make  the  practice  of  the  British  constitution  as 
admirable  as  the  theory.  Thus  he  imparted  to  innova- 
tion the  dignity  and  stability  of  antiquity.  He  trans- 
ferred to  a  happier  order  of  things  the  associations 
which  had  attached  the  people  to  their  former  Gov- 
ernment. As  the  Roman  warrior,  before  he  assaulted 
Veii,  invoked  its  guardian  gods  to  leave  the  walls, 
and  to  accept  the  worship  and  patronize  the  cause  of 
the  besiegers,  this  great  prince,  in  attacking  a  system 
of  oppression,  summoned  to  his  aid  the  venerable 
principles  and  deeply-seated  feelings  to  which  that 
system  was  indebted  for  protection." 

This  admiration  that  had  inspired  the  student, 
remained  with  him  during  his  whole  life ;  the  grand, 
inspired  style  of  this  essay,  developed  into  the  most 
splendid  art  of  history-writing,  and  the  first  success 
of  the  youth  was  a  prophecy  of  the  glory  with  which 
the  whole  world  was  going  to  crown  his  head.  Since 
Macaulay's  bones  went  to  their  resting  place  in  West- 
minster Abbey,  his  name  and  the  name  of  William 
III  of  Orange  are  forever  connected. 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF    THE   PAST          385 

The  influence  of  Holland  on  Walter  Scott  (1771- 
1832)  attracted  at  first  my  attention  when  I  read  the 
footnote  on  Page  244  of  Charles  H.  Herford's 
Studies  in  the  literary  relations  of  England  and  Ger- 
many in  the  sixteenth  century,  where  the  author  says : 
"The  chapter  on  Diversoria  in  Erasmus'  Colloquia, — 
a  chapter  from  which  Scott  drew 'nearly  every  detail 
of  the  tavern  described  in  Anne  of  Geicrstein!'  I 
found  that  the  chapter  in  Anne  of  Geierstein  men- 
tioned by  Mr.  Herford  is  Chapter  Nineteen,  and  after 
comparing  it  with  the  chapter  of  "Erasmus'  Colloquia 
entitled  Diversoria,  I  saw  that  Mr.  Herford  was  right. 
Walter  Scott  mentions  his  source  only  in  so  far  as  in 
the  beginning  of  that  chapter  he  says:  "The  social 
spirit  peculiar  to  the  French  nation  had  already  intro- 
duced into  the  inns  of  that  country  the  gay  and  cheer- 
ful character  of  welcome  upon  which  Erasmus,  at  a 
later  period,  dwells  with  strong  emphasis,  as  a  con- 
trast to  the  saturnine  and  sullen  reception  which 
strangers  were  apt  to  meet  with  in  a  German  cara1 
vansera."  In  reading  this  statement  at  the  beginning, 
the  reader  certainly  could  not  expect  that  every  de- 
tail of  the  chapter  is  taken  from  Erasmus,  and  Wal- 
ter Scott  certainly  is  not  far  from  putting  a  literary 
description  of  value  over  his  own  name  for  which  the 
honor  belongs  entirely  to  Erasmus,  which,  accord- 
ing to  Erasmus  himself,  is  one  of  the  greatest  crimes 
a  literary  man  can  commit.  In  this  respect  the  moral 
standard  of  honesty  in  the  days  of  Erasmus  seems  to 
be  considerably  higher  than  in  the  days  of  Walter 
Scott,  and  in  our  own. 

In  another  novel  of  Walter  Scott,  entitled  Quen- 
tin  Durward,  the  descriptions  of  conditions  in  the  fif- 
teenth century  are  drawn  from  the  history  of  the 
'Southern  Netherlands,  the  city  of  Liege  being  one 


386  HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF    THE   PAST 

of  the  central  places  of  this  romance.  But  Walter 
Scott  was  not  the  right  man  to  describe  the  rise  of 
Democracy ;  his  enthusiasm  is  aroused  by  the  chivalry 
of  the  feudal  knights,  and  the  freedom  and  the  rights 
of .  the  masses  of  the  citizens  does  not  inspire  him 
any  more  than  did  Erasmus'  standard  of  honesty  in 
respecting  the  rights  of  literary  men  concerning  the 
production  of  their  own  genius. 

In  this  respect  Walter  Scott  perfectly  harmonizes 
with  his  intimate  friend  Washington  Irving  (1783- 
1859),  the  author  of  the  History  of  New  York  by 
Diedrich  Knickerbocker  and  the  Sketchbook.  In  both 
these  books  Irving  writes  about  the  first  Dutch  set- 
tlers of  New  York  State.  His  style  is  splendid  and 
his  continuous  humor  attractive,  but  his  stories 
are  too  often  accepted  at  least  in  part  in  many  books 
on  American  history  as  truthful  to  history  .  For  this 
reason,  it  was  quite  natural  that  the  Dutch  people 
took  offense  at  Irving's  ridicule  of  their  ancestors. 
The  greatest  humor  of  this  story  is,  however,  that  in 
the  very  pages  of  his  Sketchbook,  and  in  the  most 
famous  of  his  stories ;  viz.,  the  story  of  Rip  Van  Win- 
kle, in  which  he  brings  to  ridicule  the  Dutch  people, 
he  was  purloining  the  whole  attractive  tale  from  a 
son  of  that  same  Dutch  nation ;  viz.,  from  Erasmus.1 
Washington  Irving  was  a  great  friend  of  Walter 
Scott,  and  it  certainly  is  not  accidental  that  both  these 
authors  purloined  from  the  same  Dutch  author,  Eras- 
mus. Probably  through  Scott,  Washington  Irving 

1  Two-  years  ago  I  published  eight  lectures  given  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  in  a  volume  entitled:  Dutch  history,  art  and  lit- 
erature for  Americans.  The  subjects  of  these  lectures  are:  (i)  Influ- 
ence of  Holland  on  America;  (2)  Dutch  and  American  History — A 
Comparison;  (3)  William  the  Silent;  (4)  Philip  II;  (5)  Rembrandt; 
(6)The  Rise  of  Amsterdam;  (7)  Jacob  Steendam,  the  first  poet  of 
America,  and  (8)  Washington  Irving  and  the  Dutch  people  of  New 
York.  It  was  in  this  last  lecture  with  an  appendix  in  six  parts  that 
I  treated  elaborately  the  question  of  the  Rip  Van  Winkle  story. 
These  lectures  are  to  be  found  in  the  libraries  of  almost  all  the 
great  universities  in  America. 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF    THE   PAST          387 

got  acquainted  with  the  Colloquies,  the  Praise  of  Folly 
and  the  letters  of  Erasmus,  those  inexhaustible  sources 
of  humor,  and  of  such  detailed  collected  descrip- 
tions as  are  found  in  the  works  of  the  two  friends 
Scott  and  Irving.  Both  had  in  their  character  some- 
thing of  that  same  poor  imitation  of  English  aristoc- 
racy that  made  them  laugh  at  the  Dutch  people, 
even  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  that  prevented 
them  from  the  honesty  of  mentioning  the  source  of 
some  of  their  best  descriptions,  giving  themselves  the 
literary  honor,  that  belonged  to  the  Dutchman  from 
whom  they  purloined. 

Closely  connected  with  Washington  Irving  was 
James  Kirke  Paulding  (1778-1860),  who  tried  his 
literary  abilities  on  two  Dutch  subjects  one  entitled 
The  Dutchman's  fireside,  published  in  1841,  and  the 
other  The  book  of  Saint  Nicholaes,  a  series  of  stories 
of  the  old  Dutch  settlers,  published  in  1837.  Pauld- 
ing's  inclinations,  so  far  as  the  Dutch  people  is  con- 
cerned, are  better  than  those  of  his  friend  Washing- 
ton Irving;  only  his  capacities  are  much  poorer,  and 
not  to  be  compared  with  those  of  Irving.  As  Vol.  44 
of  the  Standard  Literature  Series,  the  Dutchman's 
Fireside  takes  a  decent  place  among  America's 
popular  literature,  a  place  which  it  fully  deserves. 

A  better  inspiration  from  Dutch  history  we  find  in 
the  poem  of  Longfellow  (1807-1882),  who,  in  his 
Belfry  of  Bruges,  sings  the  splendor  and  glory  of  the 
grand  history  of  Flanders: 

"Then  most  musical  and  solemn,  bringing  back  the 

olden  times 
With    their    strange,    unearthly    changes,    rang    the 

melancholy  chimes." 


388  HOLLAND'S   GLORY    OF    THE   PAST 

Like  the  psalms  from  some  old  cloister,  when  the 
nuns  sing  in  the  choir ; 

And  the  great  bell  tolled  among  them,  like  the  chant- 
ing of  a  friar 

I  beheld  the  pageants  splendid,  that  adorned  those 
days  of  old; 

Stately  dames,  like  queens  attended,  knights  who  bore 
the  Fleece  of  Gold ; 

Lombard  and  Venetian  merchants  with  deep  laden 
argosies 

Ministers  from  twenty  nations ;  more  than  royal 
pomp  and  ease"." 

In  these  few  lines  taken  from  the  poem,  we  taste 
the  author  of  the  Psalm  of  Life  and  the  Footsteps  of 
Angels,  of  the  Songs  of  Hiawatha  and  the  Courtship 
of  Miles  Standish. 

In  another  poem,  entitled  "A  Dutch  Picture,"  the 
poet  describes  Simon  Danz,  one  of  those  Dutch  sea- 
captains  who  fought  the  Spaniards  on  all  seas,  and 
who  now  having  come  home  for  a  while,  sits  at  his 
fireplace,  smokes  his  pipe  and  makes  plans  for  a  new 
campaign  when  the  winter  is  over. 

Charles  Reade  (1814-1884)  wrote  several  novels, 
but  the  only  one  that  made  his  name  famous  in  liter- 
ature and  is  known  by  everybody  is  "The  Cloister  and 
the  Hearth"  published  in  1861,  in  which  the  author 
describes  the  story  of  the  parents  of  Desiderins  Eras- 
mus. 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson  (1850-1894),  the  great 
Scotch  novelist,  in  his  David  Balfour  takes  Holland 
as  the  scene  for  a  great  part  of  his  story,  and  the 
trip  which  David  and  Catriona  make  from  Hellevoet- 
slius  to  Rotterdam  and  then  to  Delft,  the  Hague  and 
Leyden,  is  certainly  unique  among  all  the  trips  made 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF    THE   PAST          389 

by  foreigners  in  the  Netherlands,  and  as  unique  as  the 
circumstances  under  which  David  studies  law  from 
the  textbook  of  Heinneccius  at  Leyden. 

Caroline  At  water  Mason  in  her  well  known  novel 
A  Lily  of  France  gives  us  a  beautiful  description  of 
Charlotte  Bourbon,  the  third  wife  of  Prince  William 
the  Silent,  and  makes  us  familiar  with  an  interesting 
period  in  the  life  of  the  great  Prince  of  Orange.  This 
novel  by  a  talented  American  authoress,  has  been 
translated  from  English  into  Dutch  by  Miss  Henrietta. 
Kuyper,  and  belongs  now,  even  in  Holland,  to  popu- 
lar literature. 
LITERARY  INSPIRATION  FROM  DUTCH  ART 

In  our  modern  life  art  takes  a  considerable  place. 
Love  and  admiration  for  things  beautiful  is  so  closely 
connected,  and  affiliated  with  praise  and  worship  in 
religion,  that  wherever  religion  is  losing  ground,  it 
is  art  that  conies  to  the  rescue,  to  lead  the  affections 
and  feelings  back  from  materialistic  tendencies  to  the 
admiration  of  the  sublime  and  beautiful.  The  works 
of  Rembrandt  are  like  sermons  preached  in  the  lan- 
guage of  art,  addressing  directly  our  deepest  con- 
sciousness and  our  feelings,  uplifting  our  souls  to 
things  sublime  and  unseen ;  the  pictures  of  Jan  Steen 
and  Gerard  Dou'  tell  us  in  a  glance,  as  much  as  a 
chapter  of  Erasmus'  Colloquies  or  Praise  of  Folly 
can  do  in  an  hour ;  the  masterpieces  of  Joseph  Israels, 
as  his  Alone  in  the  World,  his  Along  the  Churchyard, 
and  others,  are  full  of  tragic  poetry,  and  the  lyric 
songs  presented  by  the  best  of  our  modern  landscape- 
painters  are  impressive  and  charming  beyond  descrip- 
tion. 

Books  about  Dutch  art  published  during  the  last 
fifty  years  in  the  English  language  are  so  numerous 
that  they  would  fill  a  little  library  by  themselves.  Re- 


390  HOLLAND'S   GLORY    OF    THE   PAST 

productions  of  the  masterworks  are  seen  in  almost 
every  home.  Many  of  the  descriptions  in  books  about 
art  are  of  high  literary  value. 

That  this  predominance  of  art  in  our  modern  life 
should  give  inspiration  to  poets  and  novelists  is  there- 
fore easily  understood. 

The  novel  of  Walter  Cranston  Larned,  entitled 
Rembrandt,  A  Romance  of  Holland,  New  York,  1898, 
may  serve  as  an  example  of  the  movement.  Besides 
giving  the  inspiration  for  these  contributions  to  Eng- 
lish literature  during  the  nineteenth  century,  many 
works  of  Dutch  authors  have  been  translated  into 
English  during  this  period. 

One  Dutch  author,  /.  M.  W '.  Schwartz,  wrote  his 
novels  directly  in  English  under  the  pseudonym  of 
Maarten  Maartens,  well  known  in  England  and  Amer- 
ica. He  wrote :  The  Morning  of  a  Love,  and  other 
poems,  1885;  Julian,  a  Tragedy,  1886;  A  Sheaf  of 
Sonnets,  1888;  The  Son  of  Joost'  Avelnigh;  An  Old 
Maid's  Love;  and,  God's  Fool.1 

Mr.  De  Hoog  gives  the  following  list  of  authors 
of  whom  works  have  been  translated  from  the  Dutch : 

JACOB  VAN   LENNEP,   De  pleegroon    (The  adopted   son)    and 

De  Roos  van  Dekema   (The  Rose  Dekama  or  the  Frisian 

Heiress)    1847. 
VAN    KOETSVELD,  De  pastorie  van  Mastland    (The  manse  of 

Mastland,    London,    1860). 
MRS.  BOSBOOM  TOUSSAINT,  Het  Huis  Lauernesse,  and  Majoor 

Frans. 

VOSMAER,  Amazone. 
MULTATULI,  Max  Havelaar. 
HENDRIK   CONSIENCE,  Most  all  of  his   works,  as :   The  curse 

of  the  Village;  The  happiness  of  being  rich;  The  Miser; 

Ricketicketak ;     The     war     of     Peasants ;     The     Lion     of 

Flanders;    Count    Hugo    of    Craenhove ;    Wooden    Clara; 

and  others. 

1  Cf,    De    Hoog,    Studien. 


HOLLAND'S   GLORY   OF    THE   PAST          391 

PERELAER,  Baboe  Delima  (Baboe  Delima  or  the  opium  fiend) 

1886. 
WALLIS,  Vorstengnnst    (Royal   Favour)  ;   and   In   dagen    van 

stryd   (In  trouMed  times). 
SCHIMMEL,  Kapitein  van  de  Lyfgarde   (The  Lifeguardsman) 

1896. 

Louis  COUPERUS,  Elene  Vere;  and  Majesteit,  1894. 
JOHN  H.  BEEN,  De  Geschiedenis  van  een  Hollandschenjongen 

(The   History  of  a   Dutch   Boy). 
FREDERIK  VAN  EEDEN,  Van  de  Koele  meren  des  doods  (Deeps 

of   Deliverance)    1902. 
JOHANNA  VAN  WOUDE,  Oudhollandsch  Binnenhuisje  (A  Dutch 

Household)    1902. 

J.   L.  TEN  KATE,  De  Schepping    (The  Creation)    1888. 
H.   TOLLENS,   De  overwintering  op  Nova  Zembla   (The  Hol- 
landers in  Nova  Zembla,  An  arctic  poem    1860  and  another 

in    1888. 
VONDEL,  Lucifer,  Translated  by  Van  Noppen,  New  York. 

Of  course,  these  translations  of  Dutch  books  and 
the  possible  influence  they  may  have  on  English  litera- 
ture, can  be  easily  overestimated,  because  at  present 
nearly  everything  that  is  written  in  the  whole  world 
and  that  amounts  to  anything,  is  translated  into  Eng- 
lish. The  whole  classic  literature  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
the  literature  of  France  and  Germany,  lie  before  us  in 
English  translations,  and  the  few  translations  from 
the  Dutch  are  like  a  glass  of  water  in  the  ocean  of 
English  translations  from  foreign  authors. 

I  agree  with  De  Hoog1  when  he  says  that  even 
the  best  authors  of  Dutch  literature,  like  "Vondel, 
Bilderdyk,  Cats,  TollSns,  Da  Costa,  van  Lennep  and 
Beets  do  not  belong  to  the  world-literature,'1  only  I 
would  make  some  exceptions ;  e.  g.,  for  Vondel's  Lu- 
cifer. Even  some  novels  of  the  best  authors  in  Ger- 
many and  in  France  have  been  inspired  by  great  events 
or  by  great  characters  in  the  history  of  Holland,  and 

1  De    Hoog,    Studien,    II,    p.    239. 


392  HOLLAND'S   GLORY    OF    THE   PAST 

have  been  translated  from  the  German  and  from  the 
French  into  English.  Some  of  these  novels  are 
among  the  most  popular  books  in  America.  As  an 
example  from  Germany,  I  think  of  George  Ebers  and 
his  novel — The  Burgomaster's  Wife,  for  which 
inspiration  is  taken  from  the  history  of  the  siege  of 
Ley  don  in  1574  and  the  life  of  burgomaster  Adriaen 
van  der  Werff. 

As  an  example  from  France,  I  may  take  Alexan- 
der Dumas'  novel  The  Black  Tulip,  read  in  nearly 
every  family  in  America,  the  hero  of  which  is  Cor- 
nelius van  Baerle,  the  friend  of  Cornelius  and  John 
De  Witt.  This  book  gives  us  a  glance  at  the  charac- 
ter of  Prins  William  the  Third. 

Yet,  the  influence  of  Holland  on  English  litera- 
ture is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  our  present  age  but  in 
the  everlasting  glory  of  the  past. 


INDEX   OF   NAMES 


Ackersdyk,   W.   C,  50. 

Adams,  John,   16,  19,   20. 

Alcuin,   33. 

Agricola,   Rudolph,   207. 

Akenside,  351. 

Alciatus,   Andreas,    193,    195. 

Alfridus,    32. 

Althusius,  Johannes,  369. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  75,  201,  216. 

Andrelinus,  Faustus,  168. 

Andrewe,   Laurent,    173. 

Angles,   S.,   23,   63. 

An j on,  Duke  of,  280. 

Appelles,   375. 

Arber,  Edward,  205. 

Aristoteles,   375. 

Arminius,     Jacob,     233,     268, 

270. 

Arthur,    King,    145. 
Arundel,    Count,    38. 
Ashley,  Lord,  earl  of 

Shalftesbury,  342. 
Atkinson,   156. 
Awdeley,   78. 

Backhuizen    van    den    Brink, 

273- 

Baptists,   261. 
Barclay,  267. 
Barends,  William,  256. 
Barham,  F,  297. 
Barker,   Ellis,    16. 
Bartlett,  266. 
Beaumont,  74. 
Bede,   144. 
Been,  John  H.,  391. 
Beke,   Charles   F.,   255. 
Belford,   Grosvenor,   367. 
Belte,  Johannes,  209. 
Beza,  Theodorus,  193. 
Bilderdijk,  William,  50,  361. 


Blades,  81. 

Blok,   P.,  273. 

Bodel,  Johan,   145. 

Boerhaave,  H.,  17. 

Boisot,  Admiral,  202. 

Bonerus,  Edmund,  182. 

Boaistuau,   275. 

Bopp,  F.,  27. 

Bosboom,    Toussaint,    Mrs., 

391. 

Boswell,  351. 
Boyle,  R.,  282. 
Brandt,   G.,   36. 
Bremer,  Miss,  372. 
Brewster,  William  266. 
Bridges,   Robert,   63. 
Broadhead,   16. 
Brooke,  Arthur,  274. 
Browne,  Robert,  265. 
Brownists,   261. 
Buelens,   Ch.,  195. 
Bullen,  A.  H.,  282. 
Bunyan,  261. 
Burner,  Gilbert,  338. 
Butler,    19. 

Bynnerman,  Henry,  224. 
Byrne,  Thomas,  354. 
Byron,  Lord,  200. 

Caedmon,  39,  52,  143. 
Calvin,  John,  158,  172,  272. 
Campbell,  Douglas,  T3,  20,  75, 

266. 

Carleton,  Sir  Dudley,  285. 
Carpenter,  W.  H.,  86. 
Carus,    P.,   297. 
Cats,  Jacob,   191,  367. 
Caxton,   William,   149. 
Celts,  23. 

Challoner,  Rev.,   157. 
Chalmers,  George,  213. 
Charlemagne,  29,  145,  348. 


393 


394 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


Charles   the   Bold,    150. 
.Charles    the    Fifth,    Emperor, 

64,  74,  214. 
Charles    the   First,    King,    75, 

300. 

Charles  the  Second,  King,  75. 
Chaucer,    147. 
Chretien  de  Troyes,   145. 
Christina,  Queen,  34. 
Churchyard,  Thomas,  213. 
Clarisse,  J.,  50. 
Clignett,  J.  A.,  50. 
Colbert,  384. 
Congregationalists,   261. 
Conley,  C.  H.,  297. 
Conscience,   Hendrik,  391. 
Conway,  M.  D.,  297. 
Coornhert,  D.  V.,  233,  270. 
Copland,  William,  180. 
Couperus,   Louis,  391. 
Coverdale,  Miles,  187. 
Cowper,  231. 
Cromwell,  296,  304,  369. 
Crusoe,    Robinson,  322. 
Curcellseus,    Stephanus,   270. 
Curtiss,  George  L.,  271. 

Dahn,  Felix,  31. 

Danes,  23,  63. 

Dante,  261. 

Davie,  Diggon,  247. 

De  Backer,  M.  M.  A.,  195. 

De  Bellay,  225. 

De  Busbeck,  30. 

De  Casteleyne,   Matthys,  277. 

Defoe,  Daniel,  321. 

De  Fonseca,  Vincente,  258. 

De  Hoog,  55,  98. 

De  la  Gardie,  35. 

De  la  Halle,  Adam,  145. 

Denbigh,  Earl  of,  283. 

Dennis,  John,  360. 

De  Ruyter,  Admiral,  311. 

De  Veer,  Gerrit  253. 

De  Vere,  Aubrey,  372. 

De   Vries,   M.,   49. 

De  Witt,   Johan,    18. 

Dexter,  Henry,  266. 

Dibdin,   Thomas   Frognell, 

157- 

Dobson,  Austin,  354. 
Dorland  Pieter,  161. 


Douglas,  N.,  297. 
Douza,    Janus,    196. 
Dow,  Gerard,  389. 
Drummond,  R.  B.,  165. 
Drury,  G.  Thorn.  312. 
Dryden,   John,   303,   305,   306. 
Du  Bartas,  292. 
Duflcn,  G.  D.,  297. 
Dumas,   Alexander,  392. 
Dunster,  C.,  297. 
Duplessis,    Mornay,   280. 
Durer,  Albrecht,   192. 
Dursley,  Lord,  332. 
Du   Thou,    194. 

Ebers,   George,  392.     . 
Edmundson,  C~.,  295. 
Edward  III,  King,  73,  370. 
Elckerlick,   Everyman,    160. 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  65.  66,  280. 
Episcopius,   Simon,  269. 
Erasmus,   Desiderius,   164, 

183,  385- 

Ersch  und  Grube,  185. 
Evelyn,   305. 

Farlie   Robert,    197. 
Faerni,  Gabriel,  195. 
Field,  Nathanael,  284. 
Fielding,  Henry,  350. 
Fleay,   284. 

Fletcher,  John,  74,  77,  284. 
Fletcher,   Phineas,  292. 
Foltaire,   261. 
Fox,  George,  266. 
Francis  I,  King,  215. 
Frederik,  Henry,  Prince,  299. 
Frederiks,  P.  G.,  380. 
Froben,   165. 
Fruin,  Robert,  284,  378. 
Froude,  J.  A.,  16,  66. 
Fuller,  Harold  de  Wolf,  275. 

Gansford,  Wessel,  206. 

Garnett,  Richard,  300. 

Gascoigne,  George,  79,   198. 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  145. 

Gilpin,  George,  252. 

Gipsies,  78. 

Gnapheus,  Guilielmus,  208. 

Godefroy,   J. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  350,  353- 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


395 


Goose,  E.,  298. 

Gothis,  31. 

Granville,   Fulke,  278. 

Graswinckel,   288. 

Gray,  William,  279. 

Green,  He,nry,  194. 

Greenwood,  265. 

Grierson,  Herbert  J.  C.,   152. 

Griffith  William  Elliot,  13, 

266. 
Grimm,  Jacob  and  Wilhelm, 

30- 
Groen  van  Prinsterer,  6=;,  378, 

38o. 

Grosart,  Alexander,  231,  237. 
Grote,  Gerard,  158. 
Grotius,  Hugo,  234,  289. 
Guiciardini,  65. 
Gurteen,  S.  H.,  297. 
Gustavus   Adolphus,  292. 

Hake,  Edward,  156. 
Hakluyt  Society,  254. 
Halbertsma,  J.  H.,  50. 
Hallam,  66. 
Halliwel,  James  O. 
Hanbury,  Benjamin,  264. 
Hansa,    369. 
Harrison,   78. 
Heiand,  33,  46,   143. 
Henry  the  Eighth,  King,  166, 

184. 
Her  ford,  Charles  H.,   178, 

222. 

Heyne,  84. 
Hickes,  George,  41. 
Hoffman  von   Fallersleben, 

50. 

Holberg,  Baron  de,  354. 
Homer,   375. 
Hooft,    P.    C. 
Hopkins,  Samuel,  266. 
Houlderus,  Robert,  283. 
Howleglass,   178. 
Huebald,  47. 
Huydecoper,  30,  42. 

Independents,   261. 
Irving,  Washington,  386. 
Israels,  Joseph,  389. 

Jacquerie,  371. 
Jasper,  John,  268. 


Jefferson,   19. 

John,  of  Austria,  220. 

Johnson,    Reginald   Brinsley, 

332- 

Johnson,  Ben,  79,  223,  234. 
Johnson,   Samuel,  41,  348. 
Jonckbloet,  30. 
Junius,  Franciscus,  36-41,  69, 

288. 

Junius,  Hadrianns,   182,   191. 
Judith  Tinspenning,  42. 
Juste,  Th.,  250. 
Jutes,   24. 

Kalff,   18,  231,  234. 

Kanzler,  50. 

Kanura,    18. 

Kempis,  Thomas  a,   155,   171. 

Knox,    172. 

Koch,  76. 

Koeppler,  237. 

Koolman,  83. 

Koster,  L.   J.,   185. 

Kudrun,   46. 

Kuiper,  E.  T.,  298. 

Kuyper,    Henriette,   389. 

Laet,  Caspar,  153. 
Langhenes,    Bernhard,   254. 
Langland,  William,   146. 
Languet,  Hubert,  279. 
Larned,   Walter   Cranston, 

390- 

Lasco,  Johannes  a,  210. 
Lander,   W.,   293. 
Le  Brun,  337. 
Le  Clerk,  John,  343. 
Lee,    William,    331. 
Leicester,   Robert,   Earl   of, 

195,  280. 

Leighton,  John,  197. 
Lichtenstein,   W.,    12. 
Limborgh,   Philips,   269,  343. 
Lincoln,    Abraham,    369. 
Linneaus,  17. 
Lipsius,  17,  182. 
Locke,  John,  321,  341. 
Locke,  Thomas,   285. 
Logeman,   H.,   162. 
Lohengrin,  46. 
Longfellow,   387. 
Longwater,    Nicholas,    154. 


396 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


Louis  XIV,  20,  305. 
Louis  XIII,  285. 
Liibben,  A.,  85. 
Ludger,   29,    143. 
Luther,  M.,  153,  172. 
Lye,   Edward,  41. 

Maarten,  Maartens,  390. 

Macaulay,  381. 

Maccovius,    17. 

Mac  Ilbraith,  J.  R.,  298. 

Mackenal,   Alexander,   266. 

Macropedius,   Georgius,  208. 

Mandeville,  254. 

Manly,  J.  W.,  162. 

Mansion,  Colard,   150. 

Maresius,    17. 

Margaret,    sister    of    Edward 
IV. 

Maris,  brothers,  376. 

Marlowe,  Christopher,  63. 

Marnix    of    St.    Aldegonde, 
249- 

Marot,    Clement,   232. 

Marvell,  Andrew,   309. 

Mary,  daughter  of  Charles  I, 
300. 

Mary,  Daughter  of  James  II, 
321. 

Mary,  Bloody,  65. 

Mary  van   Nimwegen,   177. 

Mary  Stuart,  Queen  of  Scot- 
land, 295. 

Masnam,   Sir  Francis,  344. 

Mason,  Caroline  Atwater, 
389- 

Massmann,  H.  F.,  32. 

Massinger,    Philip,   284,   287. 

Mauritz,    Prince,   285. 

Mauve,  376. 

Mayrtes,  William,   155. 

Mesdag,  H.  W.,  376. 

Meyer,   C.  J.,   50. 

Methodists,    261. 

Middleton,  Earl  of,  340. 

Milburne,  Luke,   156. 

Milton,  John,  288. 

Mondragon,  204. 

Moonen,  Arnold,  42. 

Monen,  F.  J.,  50. 

Moody,  W.  V.,  298. 

Moolhuizen,  J.  J.,  290,  298. 


Moons,  Magdalena,  205. 
More,   Thomas,    166. 
Morus,   Alexander,  288. 
Motley,  John  Lothrop,  377. 
Mountjoy,  Lord,    164. 
.Mueller,  A.,  298. 
'Mulcaster,   241. 
Multatuli,    390. 

Neal,  Daniel,  264. 
Nichols,    Francis    Morgan, 

165,  168. 

Nicholsen,   James,    189. 
Nicholson,   S.,  212. 
Nimmo,   Will:am   P.,   325. 
Norfolk,  Duke  of,   184. 
Normans,   24,   63. 
Norris,  W.,  75. 

O'Callaghan,   16. 
Oldenbarnevelt,   282. 
Oxford,   Earl  of,  216. 

Page,  William,   156. 
Paine,  Thomas,   19. 
Painter,    Richard,   264. 
Painter,  William,  275. 
Paludanus,  259. 
Paradin,    Claude,    195. 
Parma,  Duke  of,  79. 
Paul,    Herman,    29. 
Paulding,  James  Kirke,  387. 
Payne,  John,    157. 
Penn,  William,  14,  263. 
Penry,  265. 

Peppin,  of  Herstal,  47. 
Pepys,  268. 
Perelaer,  391. 
Petrarche,   224. 
Phidias,    375. 
Philippa,  Queen,  147. 
Philip  II,  King,  74. 
Philip,   William,  254. 
Pigot,  Richard,   197. 
Pilgrims,  66. 

Pingsman,  L.  Th.  W.,  32. 
Pirenne,    H.,    371. 
Plantyn,  191. 
Plato,   375. 
Plautus,   208. 

Plutarch,    English,    293,    309, 
337,  338. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


397 


Poelenburg,   Arnold,  269. 
Presbyterians,  261. 
Price,   F.   C.,   149. 
Prior,  Matthew,  321,  331. 
Putnam,  Ruth,  13,  20. 

Quakers,   261. 
Quinet,   Edgar,  250. 

Radbond,  King,  32,  46. 
Radewyn,   Florentius,    158. 
Raphelen-gius,    Francis,    195. 
Reade,  Charles,  388. 
Reinard  the  Fox,  48. 
Rembrandt   389. 
Reynolds,  Sir  Joshua,   197, 

348. 

Rhys,    Ernest,    161. 
Richelieu,    288. 
Richthoven,  84. 
Rickman,   368. 
Rivet,   Andreas,    17. 
Robespierre,  234. 
Robinson,    John,    266. 
Rogers,   Thomas,   156. 
Rogers,  J.  Thorold,   17,  95. 
Romans,  63. 
Rousseau,  J.  J.,  234. 
Rubens,  P.   P.,  17,  238. 
Ruysbroeck,  Johannes,   158. 
Ruytinck,  Simon,   189. 

Salmasius,  288. 
Sambucus,  John,   195. 
Saxon,  24,  63,  82. 
Scheltema,    P.,    185. 
Schevez,  William,   153. 
Schiller,  K.,  85. 
Schimmel,  391. 
Schmeller,   32. 
Schouten,    William    Cornell's, 

253- 

Scot,  Mary,  340. 
Scott,  Walter,  385. 
Selden,   John,   288. 
Seneca,    186. 
Separatists,   261. 
Sewel,  William,  42,  267. 
Shaftesbury,  307,  342. 
Shakespeare,  63,  80,  275. 
Sidney,   Philip,   278. 
Siegenbeek  M.,   50. 


Siegfried,    46. 
Simons,   Menno,   266,  267. 
Sievers,   143. 

Skeat,   WTalter,  20,  73,  76. 
Smollett,  Tobias  George,  356. 
Sophia,    Queen,    379. 
Southey,    Robert,   360. 
Spenser,  Edmund,  63,  224. 
Spinoza,    '17.  ~ 
Stanhope,    Dean,    157. 
Stanley,  Sir  William,  75. 
Staring,  A.   C.  W.,  50. 
Steen,   Jan,   389. 
Stephen,  Leslie,  350. 
Stevens,   Henry,   189. 
Stevenson,    Robert    Louis, 

388. 

Stockdale,    Percival,   312. 
Struys,  Jacob,  276. 
Stuart,    261. 

Sunderland,  Earl  of,  342. 
Surrey,    Earl   of,   213. 
Swinburne,   284. 
Symonds,  J.  A.,  279. 

Tadema,  Alma,  64. 

Taine,  64. 

Taylor,   Henry,  368,  372. 

Temple,    William,   304. 

Ten   Brink,   Jan,    18. 

Ten  Kate,  J.  J.  L.,  391. 

Ten  Kate,  Lambert,  30,  42. 

Terentius,   208. 

Theosinda,   31. 

Te  Winkel,    18,   42. 

Thym,   Alberdink,   250. 

Tiele,    P.    A.,    254. 

Tjalma,    G.,    250. 

Todd,    Henry   John,    236. 

Tollens,  Hendrik,  253,  391. 

Trevelyan,    383. 

Tross,  L.,  50. 

Turenne,   384. 

Tyler,  Watt,  371. 

Tyndale,   74,    189." 

Ulphilas,  31. 
Ussher,   144. 

Valdez,  205. 

Van  Artevelde,  Jacob,  370. 

Van  Artevelde,  Philip,  371. 


398 


INDEX  OF  NAMES 


Van   Cattenburg,  Adriaan, 

269. 

Van  den  Berg,   S.Ph.,  50. 
Van  der  Aa,  42,  185. 
Van  der  Have,  J.,  250. 
Van  der  Noot,  jonkheer  Jan, 

69,   19.1,  224. 

Van   Doesburgh,  Jan,   173. 
Van  Dyk,  Anton,  313. 
Van  Dyke,   Henry,   17. 
Van    Eeden,    Fred,   391. 
Van  Hutten,  U.,   166. 
Van   Koetsveld,   390. 
Van  Lennep,   Jacob,  390. 
Van  Linschoten,  Jan  Huy- 

ghen,  253. 

Van  Leyden,  Lucas,  192. 
Van  Maerlant,  Jacob,  49,  146. 
Van    Meteren,    E.,    56,    223. 
Van  Meteren,  Jacob,   187. 
Van  Noppen,  L.  C,  18. 
Van   Toorenenbergen,   J.   J., 

250. 

Van  Veldeke,  Henric,  47. 
Van   Wassenaer,   Abdam, 

315. 

Van  Wely,  John,  287. 
Van  Woude,  Johanna,  391. 
Van   Wijn,  H.,  50. 
Vere,  Francis,  75. 
Vermenlen,   Aug.,   230. 
Verwey,  Albert,  231. 
Vitriarius,   351. 
Voet,    Johannes,    17. 
Voet,    Paul,   17. 
Voetius,    Gysbertus,    17. 
Volcanius,    Bonaventura,   34, 

196. 
Vondel,  Joost  van  den,  234, 

285,   288. 

Von  Moltke,  34.  " 
Vosmaer,   390. 


Vossius,   Gerardus,   34. 
Vossius,  Isaac,  30,  34. 

Wagenaar,  Jan,   202. 
Waghenaer  Lucas   Jansz, 

253- 

Waller,  Edmund,  312. 

Wallis,   391. 

Walsingham,    Francis,    221. 

Ward,    Seth,  341. 

Washington,   George,  369. 

Watson,   361. 

Wesley,  263. 

Westwood,   J.    C.,    298. 

Wettstein,  J.  J.,  269. 

Whitney,  Goffrey,  193. 

Whitney,   William   Dwight, 
7L 

Wickliff,    146,   369. 

Wilkes,  John,  351. 

William,  the  Conquerer,  24, 
68,  69. 

William  the  Silent,  14,  185, 
198. 

William   II,    Prince,   300. 

William    III,     Stadhoder     of 

William  III,  Stadholder  of 
Holland,  King  of  Eng- 
land, 14,  305. 

William  III,  King  of  Hol- 
land, 379. 

Williams,  Roger,  75,  279. 

Willoughby,    Lord,   75. 

Wolsey,   Cardinal,    167. 

Wood,   Francis  A.,   162. 

Woodhull,   M.,  298. 

Wrordsworth,    368. 

Wurfing,  32. 

Wyatt,  213. 

York,  Rowland,  75. 
York,  Duke  of,  307. 
Young,  A.,  16. 


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